I have mentioned in an earlier post about a homemade knife I bought in a pawn shop in Grand Junction, Colorado 28 years ago. It is rather unremarkable except for the sheath. The sheath is marked "Jack L. Zimmatore 0-782102 AAF". For 28 years I have tried to find information about the owner with no avail. I check property records and obituaries in a 3 county area around where I bought the knife. Countless online conversations yielded no answers. Then in a moment of boredom I tried again last Sunday, and got a hit. Three more hours of looking I found a Missing airman's report. Dated July 22 1946. More searching found a copy of a mans personal diary depicting an account of the wreck. More searching today I uncovered the official report and witness statements. Now after 28 years Jack's story is being told.

Jack was a P-38 pilot stationed at Shemya Air base in Alaska. On July 22, 1946 Jack was do to rotate home the following day. He was tasked with flying his P-38 for a photography mission for unit history. Being filmed by a fellow pilot Jack did a number of maneuvers. He was photographed doing a roll and was doing a triple roll when he lost control of his plane. By all accounts he regained control but could not gain altitude. Jack went into the sea 3 miles east of a remote un-inhabited island name Niski. Three days of searching found only debris.

Jack L. Zimmatore 0-782102 flying a P-38L ser# 44-27020 fighter squadron 11, fighter group 343 went into the sea on July 22, 1946. No body was ever found.

Jack your story has finally been told. Rest in peace.

The whole situation is truly amazing. Thank you for posting. Wouldn't you love to know the story of how the man's knife wound up in a pawnshop in CO?

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It must feel very fulfilling to finally have the story to go with this piece after so many years of searching. Makes what would otherwise be a rather unremarkable knife into a true treasure.

My exact thoughts. Obviously he was not wearing the knife on July 22nd. Assuming it was sent back to his mother in Corpus Christie, Texas ( I found out about her from the repots I got today) with his other personal effects. How it ended up in western Colorado could be another story that someone else will have to research.

When I first started reading I thought the direction your story was heading is that maybe it washed up on the nearby island or a beach somewhere! How it washed-up in a Colorado pawnshop is probably just as interesting.

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Possum—The other white meat!

This has been a long journey. I own this story and these pictures to another forum dealing with military subjects. After posting there, I was done. It is like a weight has been lifted off of me to get this posted. Now thinking I was finally done, my wife said I should try to find a photograph of the man to go along with the knife and reports. I hate to admit it, but she is correct.

EXCELLENT EFFORT!!!

I subscribe to Ancestry Dot Com, and Classmates Dot Com. - Here's a bit more information:

• Jack L. Zimmatore, Jr. Born - 30 July 1924, Austin, Texas
• Graduated Corpus Christi Academy, Corpus Christi, Texas, 1943 (Picture of Jack Zimmatore, Jr., as a junior).
• Number 12 on Corpus Christi Academy football team (Lettered and Jacketed as a junior).
• Father relocated from New York, to Corpus Christi, ca. 1920.

Evidently, the Zimmatores lived in several cities in Texas.

Great story, Thanks for sharing it!

Dennis, can you post the picture of Jack?

This link may not work for everyone. You usually have to be a subscriber to Classmates in order to log in and view yearbook pages. Here goes, though.
Explore 1942 Corpus Christi Academy Yearbook, Corpus Christi TX - Classmates

Thanks for sharing, great story

National Archives should be able to provide his service record. I'll try to run it down.

Here is Jack's yearbook photo from the Corpus Christi Academy in 1942.

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And here it is, some 69 years later and he is being remembered by a group of people he never even knew, using a technology that he likely could not have imagined to ever exist outside of a few pulp fiction dime store novels, and all because of a single possession that he didn't even think to stick in his flight suit on the last day of his life. And yet, that one small detail- a simple knife with his name on the sheath- winds up being what brings this forever-young pilot to the attention of many here who may not even have been born for decades before he left this life on earth.

Thanks for bringing that young man and his story to our attention, and for hanging onto his knife for all these years. May it serve you well, and I hope in whatever afterlife that Mr. Zimmatore has, that his spirit knows and appreciates that sometimes what we each leave behind touches the lives of others long after we are moved on.

That looks like a knife from the Western Knife Company manufactured in Boulder, CO.

Probably even more so.

I thought the same thing when I first saw it in the sheath. The handle looks like a Western but the blade looks homemade.

This is a great story. Thanks for sharing it here. Like a few others here, your post piqued my curiosity some and I began doing a little internet sleuthing of my own.

Was Jack's mother's named Lois?

I found three people named Zimmatore, Jack, born 1894, father? Lois born 1903, and Billy, born 1933. All deceased. All appear to have lived at Alice TX.

Only found one living Zimmatore in the state of Texas.

The photograph really tied the story together.

The knife is defiantly homemade and not a Western, even though it resembles one. I have quite a number of Westerns and they used a different type of handle tang.

Wow a face to go with the name, finally. I don't think you know how much this means to me. I don't think a thank you is enough but that is all I have. Thank you

You guys are amazing. Yes Lois was his mother according to his emergency contact info. She was living at 1202 2nd street, Corpus Christi, Texas.

When I finally got a hit on a web search on Sunday, it is like the gates opened up. Twenty eight years of dead ends and now a tidal wave of information. Thanks to all for your help and interest.

Pvt. Joker's comments were very well said and brings to the surface some thoughts of long lost relatives and friends.

Thank you again. Since your research turned up a living Zimmatore, did your info give an address for the living Zimmatore? If so could you forward me that contact info? I treasure this knife and have no desire to rid myself of it, but if this was a relative of Jack's I would like to contact him and if need be forward this information to him.

Sent you a pm regarding the living persons I found.

Happy Hunting

This is a very cool story and was glad to read it. Seeing the knife made me think of my grandfather, who gave me one that looks just like this which he likely received while serving during WW II in the Navy. Never really knew how old it could be, now I know.

Seriously doubt that it's homemade.
If it is, it was made by a very talented maker.
Very few if any of them made handles and hilts like this.
It's got the look of a hunting knife of the pre WWII era.
Do you see any writing on it?

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Thanks to OKIE I have sent an email to a lady that has the same last name and used to live in Texas. I am awaiting her reply. Wouldn't it be a fitting end to this story to actually be in contact with a living relative of his? Then frightening thing then becomes, would anyone in their family appreciate the knife as much as I do?

PILGRIM, this knife is actually fairly crudely built. I have many theater type of knives in my collection. This is the only homemade knife that can actually be tied to a serviceman. The others look real but could have been built by a kid in shop class a few years back. No markings of any kind on the knife.

I had the "pleasure" of serving 11 months on Shemya in the early '80s . It was the first operational B-29 base, although there were never any stationed there. As far as I know there were more aircraft, on both sides, were lost to weather conditions than in combat. If the weather was ever nice enough were there was sunshine for more than an hour or two , the base commander would call a down day, and all non essential personel were given a day off. That only happened 4 or 5 time while I was there.It is so windy there that there are no trees, the one bush was called "Shemya national forrest". It is 1500 miles west of Anchorage, and 450 miles from Russia, the international date line is bent around so the Aleutians are the same day as the rest of the US. It is only 45 miles over to Attu were the bloodiest battle of the Pacific until Iwo Jima. Lots of forgotten history in that part of the world. Mark Robson

Thank the Good Lord for history hounds

Hi,

Looks very much like the knife I carried in the Air Force as a survival item. Its was lost somewhere in the ocean between Korea and Okinawa in 1952.

He joined the Navy at 17 and was on a destroyer in Korea. His neighbor in Buffalo, NY was a knife maker and gave him a cosmetic 'blem' knife to take with him when he was back home on leave. It looks so similar to this one though the tang and blade shape are a bit different. His home made sheath (made on the destroyer in his spare time) is very similar but less refined than the one in the photo.

He's a little guy and got **** all the time from his shipmates for carrying a 'sword' around with him.

Pretty amazing and interesting story!

Very good reading post. Thank you.
Steve

30-30remchester & everyone,

Yes, I know it's already been said, but THANKS for sharing this incredible story and please follow up with any luck contacting the living relatives.

I think it's a guy thing, but when I buy an old gun from anyone, especially deer rifles, I ask all about the previous owners and I ask for any hunting stories I can pass down about the rifle. I am always interesting in the personal story of items such as guns, autos, motorcycles and even knives.

Thanks for sharing the story.

FYI - If you have a subscription to Fold3.com they have 13 pages of the "missing aircrew report" as well as statements from witnesses, map of location and description of the search. (Get a free trial and you can see it as well.)

John

Thanks for the link to Fold3
Interesting to know where they obtain there info ?
The reason being , Many want to be remembered for there services
And RIGHTFully so!
On the other hand
There are a few Who would
Simply like to be forgotten.
Back in 73 ( i think)
A fire destroyed most records .
Now it appears not all where .
So one has to assume , some of the records
Where obtained for other sources ,
Not the US government ?
Bottom line my name appears
Happily , The info is incomplete

I forget exactly how the poem goes, but the gist was an airman died and was standing at the pearly gates and St. Peter asked him why he should be allowed in, and the airman remarked " I've been in the Aleutians" .The gates swung open and St. Peter said " Welcome brother, you've done your time in Hell"

I remember quite a few years ago they found a US float plane (Kingfisher?) in the Aleutians, and returned it to the US for rebuild. It's now on the catapult of the USS North Carolina in Wilmington. Soemwhat more recently they found a Japanese Zero with the dead pilot still in the cockpit. I think he is buried there, but the aircraft was returned to the US for restoration.

When I saw the picture of the knife, I immediately thought of the knife my dad gave me in the 60s. I pulled it out Dad's Navy items tonight, and it looks very similar. My mom said that Dad made it while in the Navy in the Pacific 1943-45. Wish I could ask him about it now, but he died last November at age 90. His knife is definitely a homemade item, but the grips and sheaths are very similar. I'm wondering if there was some underground knife production going in the fleet machine shops.

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To answer your question, yes there was a knife production "factory" on about all WW 2 ships. These ships all had a machine shop. The voyage could take 30+ days, so there was plenty of spare time. These were known as ship built knives. About all were constructed with scrap parts. Many sheaths were built from Garand scabbards as the government bought tons of these before they figured out we didn't ride horses any more. Many sailors saw little "action", so the thing to do was build a custom knife and trade it to some marine for one of his war souvenirs, such as a flag, Jap knife, a rifle, ect.

Thanks for that info. Definitely rings true from stories I heard. I did find some interesting examples of homemade WW2-era knives:

WW2 handmade knives - EDGED WEAPONS - U.S. Militaria Forum

Ever get in contact with any living relatives?

3 miles directly East of Nizki island puts you on Shemya Island, which means he probably went down to the north or south of the western tip of Shemya. According to NOAA chart 16012, those waters are definitely dive-able with scuba & a dry suit. Wouldn't that be an adventure!

One of the respondents was able to get me the address of people with the same last name that had previously lived in Texas. The email address I had came back un-delivered. I then snail mailed the people but have no heard anything from them. It has been several months, so I doubt these people are related. Just this morning I was visiting a retired air force neighbor and he thought I should keep trying to get his military records. Though he died in 1946 he very well could have flown combat missions in WW II. I have had mixed feeling about contacting the relatives of his, for the simple fact I feel obligated to return this knife to them. It is a particular favorite of my military knife collection. But non the less it is theirs if they want it.
You had brought up the fact that the official report states his crash was 3 miles east of Nizki island, and this would put his crash sight on or near Shemya Island. I have the complete military incident report and one of the pages is a map of the crash site. Though the military stated on its report the crash was 3 miles east of Nizki, the map shows the wreck sight 3-6 miles straight south of Nizki. If I had any computer skills, which I do not, I could scan the map and post it here. If anyone is interested I will forward them the map.

Nearly a year after my first successful hit on Jack, with more research I was able to make phone contact with a relative of his. A 20 minute phone conversation confirmed Jack was a pilot in WW II. The sad part is, the family felt nobody cared about Jack anymore so a year ago they sold his uniform and flight log to a local collector. As always I am a day late and a dollar short. His relative says the family still has letters he wrote to his mother during the war. We are in contact now and hopefully the letters will be forwarded to me. I am forwarding all information I have found to them.

Yes it is. The diary of the GI was my first hit in 28 years. It is a diary of a man stationed on the island. I do not have access to the exerts right now but the diary was sponsored by the state of Alaska. It sent inquests to many GI's stationed there and asked to tell their story. Many replied. The diary writer sent in his diary while stationed on Shemya. Just one paragraph about a crash of a P-38 and the lost pilots name got me started. With the help of many forum members I had his early life story and even a high school picture. Then the other day I stumbled onto a lead that put me in contact with a close relative. They knew very little about what happened to Jack as they were born after his tragedy. I forwarded them all the official papers and witness accounts. I hope they will write back and give more family details. I will be glad to forward you a link to the Alaska site in a few days if you would like.

Rest in peace, Jack Zimmatore!

Great story!

There were a lot of amateur knives from the WWII period made from worn-out files, and I've seen quite a few of them.

I once found a considerable stash of letters sent home from France by a doughboy during WWI in an antique shop. I bought them for a few dollars. Included was a very lengthy and detailed handwritten journal of his Army experiences during the war which took me about two hours to read, almost book-size. A little internet searching resulted in my finding his grandson, who had no idea those items existed. I sent them to him. It would probably have been much more difficult to find any relatives if the soldier's name hadn't been so distinctive, and also if his grandson didn't have the exact same name (a II).

I always wonder why people don't care about their family history.

My feelings exactly. I once saw a homemade knife that was sold at a yard sale for $10. The knife was sold by the son of the owner. The dad had received the knife from his dad, who built the knife, and carried it throughout WW II. Ten dollars must mean more to his son than dad and granddads history. I just can not phantom that. With all due respect, this knife is the same. It was given to Jack's nephew, that he never knew, and was promptly sold. I paid $10 for it at the pawn shop so his nephew must have gotten a whopping $5 for it. His uniform and flight log were also sold. But again, none of these relatives ever knew him. Hanging in my closet is my long gone uncle's dress uniform coat. He was a survivor of both the Bataan Death march, and the hell ships and forced labor camps. This uniform will be passed to my grandsons one day to hopefully never be sold and always cherished.

Thank you, this is an amazing read

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Patriots Forever!!