"Former Santa Cruzan Loses Life in Crash," noted the February 26, 1943, Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Raymond J. Jewett was born in Minnesota in 1920 to Mr. and Mrs. Jewett; his mother's name was Gertrude. By 1940 his mother had remarried and was living in Modesto, California. Jewett may also have lived in the San Joaquin Valley and graduated from high school there before moving to Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Sentinel noted that "Jewett lived and worked in Santa Cruz for some time," and while his employer is unknown, it stated that he had worked as an office clerk or in a similar administrative capacity.

In August 1941 Jewett, who was single and living in Contra Costa County, enlisted in the US Army Air Corps as a private. After completing basic training, he was accepted into a special program to prepare him to fly or navigate bombers. At the completion of the program, he was pro- moted to Flight Officer (Warrant Officer) and stationed at the MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

On December 28, 1942, Raymond J. Jewett and five other officers were aboard a plane flying out of Tampa, Florida, when they encountered unspecified problems forcing them to crash into the Gulf of Mexico. Although the Navy, Coast Guard and Army Air Force searched for five days, neither their bodies nor the plane was located.

(NARA2; SCSn news February 26, 1943 3:8; http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Flight_officer;)