John Snyder Houghton was born in Wooster, Ohio, 10 July 1919. Houghton was the son of Ellis M. Houghton and Harriett Houghton of Marion, Ohio. John also had a sister, Mary Anne Houghton and a brother, James L. Houghton. John S. Houghton graduated from Harding High School with the Class of 1937. Houghton went on to Fenn college in Cleveland, Ohio, as an engineering student. Houghton was president of the Kappa Theta Tau fraternity.
James S. Houghton went into service in the Army Air Corps on 24 August 1942. He enlisted in Cleveland, Ohio, as a private. Houghton would be selected to be an aviation cadet. He attended the aviation cadet program in Boca Raton, Florida, where he would be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He would then be sent to Flight Engineer School at Lowry Field near Denver, Colorado, where he would graduate with Class #25-44. Houghton would continue training with an assignment to the 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing at Clovis Army Air Base, New Mexico.
In January of 1945, 2nd Lt. John S. Houghton would be assigned to the 20th Air Force, XXI Bomber Command, 73rd Bomb Wing, 498th Bombardment Group – VH (Very Heavy), 874th Bomb Squadron stationed at Isely Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands. He was on the crew of a B-24 Super Fortress named Filthy Fay II (#42-93999).
While on a bombing mission on the night of 1-2 April 1945, the Filthy Fay II and 120 other aircraft were to bomb the Musashino Engine Works of the Nakajima Aircraft Company near Tokyo, Japan. While making the bombing run the Filthy Fay II took a flak hit through it’s open bomb bay doors. This set the Filthy Fay II on fire. Only seven of eleven crew members were able to parachute from the aircraft. The bomber exploded on impact with Atago Mountain near Yoshino Village in the Nishitama District of Tokyo.
Lt. Houghton sustained serious third degree burns while exiting the aircraft. The crash occurred on 2 April 1945, and Houghton was taken prisoner. He was taken to Kempie Tai (secret police) headquarters and placed in a cell in the basement. He was a POW when on 9 April 1945, he was taken to a hospital. His death was reported to be 11 April 1945. It would be later reported that Lt. Houghton was injected with poison, to put him out of his misery. Houghton had completed 16 missions prior to his B24 being shot down.
Four of the surviving crew were able to contact Houghton’s family after the Japanese surrender. Later a former Japanese secret police chief was charged with war crimes. Keijiro Otani was charged based on “evidence that clearly showed that an Ohio youth was poisoned and another died from lack of medical care.” It is said that Houghton was poisoned because his condition was deemed “hopeless.”
2nd Lt. John S. Houghton is buried at Marion Cemetery in Marion, Ohio.
2nd Lt. John S. Houghton is remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Veterans Memorial Park in Marion, Ohio; on the west wall of the Marion County Courthouse; and on the World War II Veterans Memorial Wall, at the Marion Cemetery.
“Filthy Fay II” Crew Members Disposition:
5 KIA:
1st Lt. Carl G. Smith – KIA
2nd Lt Cecil E. Coats – KIA
2nd St. Francis G. McGinty – KIA
2nd Lt. Benjamin C. Stauber – KIA
T/Sgt. William D. McCormack – KIA
6 POW – (They were imprisoned in Tokyo Kempei Tai Headquarters). 2 died of their wounds, while 4 survived:
Sgt. Kenneth Peterson – POW – Died at Tokyo Kempei Tai
2nd Lt. John S. Houghton – POW – Died at Tokyo Kempei Tai
S/Sgt. Francis M. Reynolds – POW/Liberated
S/Sgt. Sylvio LaMarca – POW/Liberated
Sgt. Morris W. SanSouci – POW/Liberated
S/Sgt. John W. Evans – POW/Liberated
Honoring Marion Ohio Veterans 