LT Jay Ross Manown Jr.

Lieutenant Jay Ross Manown, Jr., USNR, a courageous World War II Naval aviator is returning home to Kingwood, West Virginia, to be laid to rest with full military honors. Tragically, Manown and his crew were shot down in the Naval airstrikes at Palau in the western Pacific Ocean on September 10, 1944.

LT Manown was born January 19, 1918, in Kingwood, West Virginia. He was the beloved son of Jay Ross Manown and Ella Craig Manown and brother of Elaine Manown Shonk. His niece, Rebecca Shonk Sheets, and nephew, John Shonk IV, along with many cousins will welcome Jay home.

Jay Manown was well known throughout Preston County, having attended schools in Kingwood and graduating from Kingwood High School. He was an avid woodworker; his beautiful pieces are treasured by his family. He was a senior at West Virginia University studying mining engineering when he entered active combat duty after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He graduated from the Anacosta, Virginia, and Pensacola, Florida, naval air training schools and served two years as a flight instructor at Pensacola.

After this tour of duty, he was ordered to the Alaskan Theater where he served fourteen months. He returned to the United States and was then sent to the Pacific Ocean Areas. He served in Hawaii and took part in naval actions against the Gilbert, Marshall, Caroline, and Philippine Islands. A decorated pilot, LT Manown was described in a postwar account as a ‘bold and intrepid aviator’ by Stephen Mihm in the article, “Recovering the Lost Aviators of World War II,” Smithsonian Magazine, March 2024. At age 26, he served as the second in command of his squadron (VT20) on the U.S.S. Enterprise. During an airstrike against the Japanese in the battle of Peleliu, LT Manown and his crew Anthony DiPetta, the gunner, and Wilbur Mitts, the radioman and navigator, left the deck of the Enterprise on that fateful morning September 10, 1944. They took a fatal hit, spinning wildly into the sea. Without any evidence of survivors, Manown and his crew were declared missing presumed dead. The Navy declared the remains nonrecoverable.

Remarkable dedication and technology have allowed many remains to be identified thanks to the Navy Casualty Office and Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's modern genetic testing and the untiring efforts of Project Recover. The family of Jay Manown expresses its heartfelt gratitude to the Navy Casualty Office and Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and Project Recover. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Project Recover Foundation, 60211 Rolled Rock Way, Bend, OR 97702, or www.projectrecover.org.

The flight bringing LT Manown home will land at Pittsburgh International Airport on October 25th, 2024, at 10:22 am, and we project to be back in Kingwood at approximately 1:00 pm. Please follow Kingwood Funeral Home facebook page for travel updates as we bring him home.

Those wishing to pay their respects to LT Manown, will be received at the Kingwood Funeral Home, 295 S. Price Street, Kingwood, WV 26537, from 10am until 7pm on Monday, October 28, 2024. Funeral services will be held at the funeral home on Tuesday, October 29, 2024 at 11:30am, with the Reverend Jonathan Nettles officiating. Interment will follow at Maplewood Cemetery in Kingwood, with full military honors conducted by the Navy Reserve Center Pittsburgh Funeral Honor Detail and the Preston County honor guard. Online condolences can be made at www.kingwoodfuneralhomewv.com.

To welcome home LT Manown, we are requesting that you display the American flag and any other patriotic adornment from October 25th until October 30th.

Kingwood Funeral Home and Cremation is honored to serve the Manown family.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of LT Jay Ross Manown Jr., please visit our floral store.