Mitchell County GaArchives Obituaries.....Maples, John Milledge Jr 1957
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Sam Luckey http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00013.html#0003136 January 4, 2005, 6:22 am

The Camilla Enterprise 9 Aug 1957

Obituary of John Milledge Maples Jr. as written on pages 1 and 9 of "The 
Camilla Enterprise" dated 9 Aug 1957.  Camilla, Georgia.  

Bringing sorrow to family and friends throughout the county early Wednesday 
evening was news of the death of 27 year old Captain John Milledge Maples, Jr., 
son of Mitchell County Sheriff John M. Maples, Sr. and Mrs. Maples.  The 
popular young Air Force Captain was killed in a crash that took place about 
3:00 P.M. Wednesday, news of his death not reaching his home town of Camilla 
until around 8:00 P.M.  Maples was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base in 
Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the 93rd Interceptor Squadron.  He was test 
flying a brand new plane when he crashed about forty miles west of 
Albuquerque.  Some long time and very good friends of the Maples family, Mr. 
and Mrs. Fred Caddell, of Jacksonville, Fla. had reached Albuquerque Monday of 
this week to visit Captain Maples and his wife and three small children and the 
Caddells were with Mrs. Maples, Jr., when she first received word of the crash 
that took the life of her husband.  The Caddells have remained by her side and 
will fly along with her when they accompany Captain Maples' body home.  The 
Caddells told the aviator's parents yesterday (Thursday) that it would possibly 
be Friday or Saturday before they reached Camilla by plane escorting the body 
home.  Sheriff Maples said that tentatively this would place funeral services 
for some time Sunday, depending on what time the body and funeral escort 
reaches here.  Sheriff and Mrs. Maples were not at home when the telephone 
message came early Wednesday evening.  They had gone earlier to Carrabelle, 
Fla., to spend the night and visit with Mr. and Mrs. Sam Miller, of Pelham, who 
had gone down beforehand.  Deputy Sheriff Roger Brown received the death 
message and departed immediately to Carrabelle to inform the grief stricken 
parents, Captain Maples being their only child.  State Highway Patrolmen all 
along the way from Camilla and Carrabelle cooperated with Deputy Brown by 
making the road clear for him to reach the Maples as soon as possible.  Captain 
Maples was born and reared in Camilla.  He would have been twenty-eight years 
old on October 11th of this year.  He was graduated from Camilla schools and 
spent two years attending Emory at Oxford, later two years at Emory University 
in Atlanta where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.  He lacked only 
a few courses of getting his degree when he became ill and left college.  He 
entered the service in September of 1950, choosing the Air Force.  After 
receiving his wings and commission he was sent to Korea where he flew one 
hundred missions over enemy territory during the Korean conflict.  He was a 
fighter pilot.  Many will remember when Maples was in Korea he wrote The 
Camilla Enterprise of the tragic need for clothes by the little orphans and 
asked that an appeal be published for any of his friends who would send him old 
clothes to give these little boys and girls.  This was the first people in this 
county learned about the need for clothes to Korea and Maples received nearly 
two thousand pounds of clothes.  He mailed back a picture of himself 
distributing them.  Such was the good, kindly and friendly nature of the young 
Camilla pilot who lost his life this week.  As time went on others made known 
the need in Korea but it was Maples who first brought it to the attention in 
this county or in this section of the state for that matter.  In December of 
1953 Captain Maples was happily married to the former Miss Emma Louise Dent, of 
Amory, Mississippi, whom he had met when he was in early flight training in 
Columbus, Mississippi.  The couple have three tiny children.  There is John 
Randall who is two and a half years old, Gregory Dent who is a year and a half 
old, and the baby, Walter Douglas, is six months old.


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