Individual Details

Death

First Lieutenant John William Honaker, United States Air Force, was a fighter pilot with the 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Group. He was credited with shooting down two enemy aircraft and damaging two others. On March 14, 1952 in Korea, while test flying an F-86E Sabrejet, he was killed in a non-combat plane crash at Kimpo Air Base. His headstone records his having been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Other awards and decorations include the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal. He had served previously in the Merchant Marine and was a cadet in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He re-enlisted in the Air Force in 1949 and was assigned to Korea in June, 1951. Lt. Honaker was a native of Owingsville, Kentucky, but had spent most of his life in Washington, D. C., where he attended McKinley High School and graduated from the Woodward school. He was a resident of Arlington, Virginia. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Barbara Furr Honaker and two daughters, Carolyn V. and Linda Lee, of Arlington, Virginia; his father, Lee Honaker, Lexington, Kentucky, his mother, Mrs. Constance Botts Honaker, San Diego, California; two aunts, Mrs. Dudley Botts Ratliff, Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Ellen B. Wycoff, Lexington, Kentucky; and two uncles, Mason Botts, Richmond Road, Kentucky, and Charles Honaker, Owingsville, Kentucky. Lieutenant Honaker was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on August 14, 1952.