By Andrew Welliver
In 2016, Joe Messineo interviewed World War II veteran John Shott.
In that interview Shott shared his harrowing experience after getting shot down and taken as a prisoner of war.
“During his oral history interview in 2016 I asked him how he got through this ordeal mentally,” Messineo wrote about the 2016 interview. “Believe it or not he told me ‘I thought about home and sitting down to eat powdered jelly donuts and a cold glass of milk.’ When I asked him to look back on his life he said, ‘I had a pretty good life, and I would not change a thing.’”
Since then Messineo has made a point to bring Shott powdered jelly donuts and fresh milk.
“We sit there and I listen to him talk about the war and just about anything that comes to mind,” Messineo wrote.
On July 4 Shott will be celebrating his 101st birthday and it is only fitting that a special ceremony will be held at the DeWitt Dunkin’ Donuts on Erie Boulevard East on July 3 at 1 p.m.
The celebration is being sponsored by the local franchise with the awareness and support of Dunkin’ Donuts from the corporate level.
Shott was drafted into the Army in 1943, and after he finished his basic training he went on to receive further training to join the Air Corp. From there he operated on B-25 bombers as a radioman and a tail gunner.
It was on the morning of May 17, 1945 when he and his crew were flying over Formosa, present day Taiwan, that they were shot down.
There were muzzle flashes coming from nearby cliffs that were shooting at the plane.
“I remember being in the tail of the plane and I was separated from my crew and crashed about half a mile away from the rest of the plane,” Shott said.
Shott realized that he was all alone and after three days on his own he attempted to take cabbage from a field where he was discovered by the Japanese and captured.
He recalls being placed in an 8×6 hut with his hands bound behind his back, only to have his ties removed once a day so he could empty the bucket that was in his cell.
“I was fed one rice ball a day and some hot tea,” he said.
Shott’s weight fell from 146 to 93 pounds during his time as a POW. He endured many beatings from interrogators as they were trying to learn the location of his base.
He was eventually moved to a main prison camp where he realized there were mostly British POWs at the location. He was held there for one week until the camp was liberated by American forces in September.
Even with all he endured as a POW Shott still intended to reenlist in the Army, but he was not able to do so.
Shott instead moved to Syracuse in 1947 and started working for American Airlines in Amboy Airport which is now the Syracuse Hancock International Airport.
He retired in February 1983, and he still looks back on his time in service.
He received his POW certificate and acknowledgement from former Congressman James T. Walsh, father of current Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh.
“I had a pretty good life, and I would not change a thing,” Shott said.
When asked how he felt about his birthday being on Independence Day and if there was any extra significance to him he stayed humble yet positive and happy. “I always got more fireworks on the Fourth as a kid,” he said.
Messineo encouraged people to think about Shott the next time they bite into a donut.
“John will be 101 years old on the Fourth of July. The next time you enjoy a jelly donut, or any donut, try to honor John’s service by just remembering him and smiling,” he wrote.
