John Jacob Lutz attended the University of Tennessee. He was married to Hannah Margaret McCrary and they had a son, John Jacob Lutz Jr.
He was leading the First Platoon on a reconnaissance mission forward of our lines on April 2, 1945, when he was called upon to assist in the assault of a strong enemy position. Riding in an armored car at the head of his platoon at a very fast pace over rough terrain and under intense enemy fire, Lieutenant Lutz was fatally injured when his vehicle overturned and rolled into a steep ditch. This brave officer lived only a few minutes after the unfortunate accident, but we are certain he did not suffer greatly.
Needless to say, every available man came to the assistance of their leader, trying desperately to extricate him from the overturned car. Aid, however, was too late. But his own men removed his body from the wreck and evacuated him from the combat area. His body now lies in the U.S. Armed Forces Cemetery No. 1, at Bacolod, Negros Occidental Island, where it was interred with full military honors under the religious auspices of an Army Chaplain.
Submitted by Captain John S. Robinson along with a copy of the 40th Infantry Division Order No. 89 announcing the award of the Silver Star Medal for gallantry in action against the enemy.
Photo below from the University of Tennessee, Yearbook 1937
The Loudon County Herald February 10, 1949
The final taps was blown Sunday for John J. Lutz II, Loudon County’s first draftee in World War II, who was killed in action in the Philippines April 2, 1945.
Lt. Lutzs body arrived in Loudon Saturday morning. Funeral services were held Sunday afternoonat 2:30 o’clock at the home of his mother, Mrs. Ruby Harris Lutz on Cedar Street. The Rev. H.E. Lovelace and the Rev. S.S. Boyer officiated. Burial was made with full military honors by the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The youthful son of one of the county’s most prominent families, held draft number 159, the first called from this county. He was inducted April 7, 1941 and accepted at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. After he was selected for Officers Training School, which he attended at Fort Riley, Kansas, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in November 1942. There he served as instructor for several months and was then transferred to the Army Coastal Patrol on the Pacific coast. In March 1944, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and embarked for the Pacific area later in the year, arriving in New Guinea December 4, 1944, where he was attached to a reconnaissance unit. Lt Lutz was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star.
Lutz was one of Loudon’s most popular young men. He was born July 2, 1919 and attended Loudon Schools. He attended the Riverside Military Academy for one year and ten entered the University of Tennessee, where he pledged to the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He left the University of Tennessee to learn chair manufacturing and became Assistant General Manager and Director of the Don P. Smith Chair Co. in 1940.
Surviving beside the mother and son is one sister, Freida, and several aunts, uncles and cousins.
- Rank: First Lieutenant
- Date of birth: 2 July 1919
- Date of death: 2 April 1945
- County: Loudon
- Hometown: Loudon
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 40th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop
- Theater: Pacific
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart, Silver Star
- Burial/Memorial Location: Stekee Cemetery, Loudon, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XV, Top Panel
- Contact us to sponsor John J. Lutz Jr.
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