Former Sioux Cityan Plays “Believe It or Not” Role in Pacific War Drama
Lt. Jack Mason Rescued by Ship His Brother Commanded
By Park Rispalje
Lt. Jack Mason, 20, who attended North Junior School here about eight years ago and who was a navy aviator during the war, was a principal character in a “Believe It of Not” rescue episode shortly before the close of the war.
The commander of a destroyer, at a time of intense activity in the Pacific area, received an urgent message to proceed immediately to a spot in the Pacific indicated by a latitude and longitude reading and to attempt the rescue of a flier whose plane had been shot down. The flier was Jack Mason.
The destroyer speeded to the specified location and succeeded in rescuing young Mason, who had taken to his rubber raft after his plane had been riddled.
And….the commander of the rescuing destroyer was Lt. Comdr. Harry Mason, brother of the rescued aviator.
Lt. Jack Mason, with his mother, Mrs. Gladys Mason, spent some time in Sioux City in the home of his uncle, Sidney L. Taylor, 2009 Kennedy Drive. Mr. Taylor is a brother of Mrs. Mason.
Another unusual phase in the military life of the Masons is the fact that another brother, Robert, also is a lieutenant commander in the navy and both Harry and Robert are graduates of the naval academy at Annapolis, having attended that famous school at the same time. It is one of the few incidences on record where two members of a family have attended the academy simultaneously. Both received their appointments while the family lived at Leigh, Nebr.
Lt. Comdr. Robert Mason now is stationed at Pearl Harbor, the mother of Lt. Jack Mason resides in California. The news of the unusual rescue of young Lt. Mason was received in a letter to Mr. Taylor from Mrs. Mason.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, October 26, 1945
