Captain John Mitchell Silva USA

Legion of Merit

John Mitchell Silva was born on August 6, 1904 to Joseph and Mary Catherine Silva. His father had recently emigrated from the Azores. Although student records are not available we know that he attended NMAMC seeking a degree in Civil Engineering at some point. He was called to active duty in December 1942 and in May of 1943 was shipped to the China Burma India Theater as an engineering officer in the US Army Corps of Engineers. The army was undertaking a massive construction effort in the theater involving thousands of engineers and hundreds of thousands of native workers to construct the roadways and airfields required to carry the war to the Japanese. Captain Silva was assigned to the 5308th Air Service Group then working as part of Operation MATTERHORN. This was the effort to construct 45 airfields in India and 25 air fields in China to house B-29 bombers. On March 11, 1944 Captain Silva was a passenger on board C-47 #41-18686 when it departed Hsinjan Hsein China. The aircraft had engine failure and crashed killing all aboard. Today he is buried at the Honolulu Memorial Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Mrs John Silva. Captain John Mitchell Silva, recipient of the Legion of Merit, was 39 years of age at the time of his death.