John Risse Little
Kentucky Post, Tuesday, 4 January 1944, page 1
"We have never given up hope as there have been so many of the
boys who have been found once again after having been reported missing." Mrs. C
R Little, 526 Linden avenue, Southgate, said Tuesday in expressing hope that her
son, Lieut. John Little, 28, missing in action in the South Pacific, will be
found.
Commander Little, a former Newport High School football star, now a fighter pilot in the Navy air forces, is reported to have crashed his plane while on a combat mission. In the communication received from the Navy Department, the officers parents, Mrs. and Mrs. C R Little, were not informed as to how long he has been missing. He has been overseas since last July.
Commander Little was a junior at Illinois State College, Jackson Ill. when he enlisted in the Navy seven years ago. He received his Navy wings in 1937. Two years ago he married Mrs. Voris Little, then a Navy nurse, a native of Wisconsin, makes her home with her husband's family. His father is secretary treasurer of the Southgate School Board. His brother, Major Robert Little, is stationed with the air forces in the Pacific. He graduated from West Point in 1939.
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Ft Thomas Matters Newspaper, No date
A letter telling of the death of her husband, Lieutenant Commander John Risse Little, a Navy Air Corps squadron leader, who was reported missing Jan 1 by the Navy Department and describing the high esteem and affection the men of his squadron held for him, has been received by Mrs. Voris Olsson Little, 253 Linden Avenue, Southgate.
The letter written by Lieutenant Daniel C Turrentine, relates Lieutenant Commander Little was killed when his plane crashed in the Pacific when he was returning to his base in the Solomon's after passing a recreation leave in Australia. The Navy, however, still lists him as missing.
Lt. Commander Little, 28 years old, was a son of Mr. and Mrs. C D Little of the Linden Avenue address. Entering the Navy in 1936, he received his wings a year later in Pensacola Fla. He had been overseas since last Jul. His brother Lt. Colonel Robert R Little, a graduate of West Point, class of 1939, is serving in the South Pacific with the Army Air Forces.
In the text of the letter received by Mrs. Little: "John had been in Sidney, Australia on a recreation leave. I had gone on a previous trip and I was not with him. He was headed back to his command with other members of his squadron when the crash occurred. One leg of the flight was from New Caledonia to Espiritu Santo. The plane took off from New Caledonia on the afternoon of December 27. Later that afternoon French natives in the Loyalty Islands group saw the plane plunge into the ocean a few miles off shore and sink. No one was observed to have escaped from the plane. The nature of this evidence brought authorities to the inescapable conclusion that all hands had been lost."
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John's plane went down 27 Dec 1943, in the Pacific Ocean on return from Solomon Islands, Australia. Considered lost at sea. VFW Post in Southgate Ky. named their post John R Little VFW #3186 in honor of him.