JERRALD EVORITT
Posted Friday, March 1, 2013 07:55 AM

REMEMBERING
JERRALD EVORITT

 

By Joe C. Fling

Jerrald Preston Evoritt, called Jerry, but known to his friends as ‘Squirrel,’ was the son of C. E. Evoritt. Evoritt graduated from Eagle Lake High School in 1940, where he had been a popular student, involved in sports and social activities. Jerry attended the University of Texas for two and one-half year when he volunteered for the Army Air Corps on January 31, 1943.

Jerry trained at numerous bases, receiving pilot training. He served for a time as an instructor before being sent to England in 1944. Evoritt attained the rank of Flight Officer and eventually was stationed at an advanced tactical air fighter base in France. He served in the 367th Fighter Squadron, 358th Fighter Group. Rather than flying out of England, like the heavy bombers, these planes were stationed as near as practical to the front lines, to provide close in support to ground troops.

Evoritt was the pilot of a Republic P-47 “Thunderbolt” fighter-bomber. His squadron of planes was called the “Orange Tails” which provided air support for the U.S. Seventh Army as it moved through France and into Germany. The “Thunderbolts” which the Allies called “Tank Busters” and which the Germans called “Jabos” (after the German jager, meaning “hunter”) had a decisive effect in France and Germany in 1944-45.

Historian Stephen Ambrose in his superb book about the American victory over Nazi Germany, Citizen Soldiers, says that in his interviews with German army veterans, they all still spoke in awe of the sheer terror of having a Jabo coming at them, all guns blazing. Ambrose quotes one soldier, “The Jabos were a burden on our souls.”

Evoritt’s duties were to strafe and bomb ahead of ground troops, hitting German convoys and concentrations of men, equipment and munitions. Evoritt saw a lot of action. He had flown 70 combat missions, had been cited for shooting down three German Messerschmitt ME-109 fighters, and damaging four other enemy aircraft. He had been awarded the Air Corps highest award, the Distinguished Flying Cross as well as the Air Medal with 15 oak clusters.

In March, 1945, this distinguished pilot was reported missing in action over German soil. Later, it was confirmed that he had been killed at 5:15 p.m on March 13, 1945 near his target at Hiebroon, Germany.

In his last letter to his parents, dated March 12, Evoritt told of just returning from an unexpected leave on which he had visited Paris. This led the family to believe that Evoritt had been killed on his first mission after his leave.

More information was provided by the chaplain who conducted the service for Evoritt’s burial in Germany. He related that Evoritt had been strafing traffic on a main road in southwest Germany when he was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. German civilians reportedly recovered his body and buried it in a local cemetery. His remains were later relocated to regular U.S. Military Cemetery. Evoritt was eventually interred at the Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France. Lorraine is the largest World War II American cemetery in Europe. It is the final resting place of 10,489 American servicemen.

Colonel James Tipton lauded Evoritt, stating that he had a remarkable ability to see enemy targets through camouflage, an ability that led to being nicknamed “radar eyes” by his fellows in the service. He was survived by his parents, brother C. E. Evoritt, Jr., sister Marjorie and grandfather J.M. Evoritt. Like so many others, Evoritt also has a nephew named after him.