Jack (Jean) Le Billon died Pearl Harbour 1941?

Question

My sister is researching our family tree and has heard a story that our great uncle died at Pearl Harbour. His name was Jean Le Billon but he changed his name to Jack when he went to live in America because his name was being mispronounced as the female name Jean. He was a seaman and travelled all over the world. He once brought a monkey back from his travels and it ended up on the Hood which was sunk by the Bismark.

Answer 1

I went through several lists, including lists of all casualties (civilians and military). He's not on there. I also went through all Hawaii death certificates. There's nothing there. I went through everyone named "Jean", "Jack" and "John". There is no record of him ever being there. The story may have a few roots. He may have died in the Pacific during the war. But I can be pretty sure he didn't die at Pearl Harbor.

Here are some sites where you can snoop around:

http://www.pearlharboroahu.com/casualtyl...

http://www.pearlharborsurvivorsonline.or...

Answer 2

There is neither a WWII Draft Card nor a WWII Enlistment Record for that name.

If you had his year of birth I could do a more thorough search as his name may have been misspelled in the indexes.  I could also check later records such as voter's records, marriage records, etc. in case he didn't die during the war but was one of the many men and women who simply fell out of touch with their family for whatever reason and just did their best to live their life after the war was over with

There is a John Peterson Billon (1920 - 2001) who is bured in California who is listed as a Veteran, but looking at the records for CA I don't think this is the man you are looking for.

There are some interesting possibilities in the New York Passenger lists but I'd need more info to do any further research.

Answer 3

I have checked with the Commonwealth War graves Commission and his name does not appear on any of their lists for WWII. I have also searched the UK National Archives Roll of Honour and he doesn't appear there either.

The HMS Hood was lost in May 1941.Here is the link to the site of HMS Hood,http://www.hmshood.com/   and the crew listings etc. I have searched through the crew listings, but have not found your relatives name. Perhaps he was not on that particular ship.

Edit there was another war ship however named the HMS Lord Hood which was in commission from 1939 - 1946. This ship was a mine sweeper.

Answer 4

I think I know what the problem is in finding your great uncle, Jack. Your last sentence in your question gave it away.

1. The Hood was a British battleship, and thus NOT in the Pacific Theater of war.

2. The Bismarck was a GERMAN battleship--the biggest one afloat at the time--and thought to be unsinkable.

3. The HMS Hood sank during combat with the German battleship Bismarck in the Denmark Strait on 24th May 1941, seven months before Pearl Harbor.

At least 1,415  men  were confimed lost when Hood sank and

constituted the Royal Navy's greatest single ship loss of the Second World War (www.hmshood.com). This site has a list of all those who died, but I could not find your uncle's name under B or L (was he actually IN the Navy at that time??)  It is known that nearly 40 men, possibly more, died while building or assigned to Hood between 1916 and her loss in May 1941.

The Hood website has a page where you can contact them with any questions. Wikipedia has articles on both the Hood and the Bismarck., and the battle between them.

    At ancestry.com, this was listed in the British Phone Books, 1880-1984 Releases 1-4 :

  Name: J Le-Billon  in Yorkshire in 1972 (of course, it doesn't say if it was a man or woman).

    I could not find his name spelled as LeBillon, L'Billon, or LaBillon on any of these sites--rootsweb, familysearch, or the British ancestry.com.  For instance, I'd put in one of these spellings, and all they would come up with was either 0 matches, or the name LeBlanc.Are you sure that is how his surname was spelled??