J. K. Milnor, Ridgewood, NJ

I'm looking for information on my great-grandmother's brother who flew fighters in WWI in France: J. K. Milnor of Ridgewood, NJ. Any leads would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Ceek

[ONEALM]

Ceek -

I've been collecting the bios of New Jersey residents who served as aircrew with any of the Allied Air Services during the war for the last 29 years, but have yet to come across Milnor's name.


Was his name John K. Milner ? Notice the spelling difference. If so, he was an observer with the 96th Aero Squadron. Not a pilot which would explain why I missed him. The SIgnal Corps, as far as I have been able to determine, did not keep a comprehensive listing of observers that would have saved me a few years of digging !

If "Milner" is your man (or his name is mispelled in the Squadron history), he arrived on 11 September 1918 and was hospitalized at an unspecified date.

I have a brief bio of John Kennedy Milner if he's your guy. I see he was born in Alabama though so may be another man altogether.

I will see what I can dig up on J.K. Milnor in the meanwhile. I will add him to the list of 740 to join the other 8 fliers from Ridgewood....

More later,
Mike

[ONEALM]

John Kennedy Milner is NOT the fellow we are looking for.

From his Draft Registration card -

Joseph K. Milnor
Murray Ave, Ridgefield, NJ
Born 11 March 1893 in Chicago
Employed by Blodget & Co, NYC as a Bond Salesman in 1917
Served 4 years in NYNG by the time he registered for the national draft on 5 June 1917.
Medium build, black hair, brown eyes.

My next suggestion would be to contact the NJ Bureau of Archives and Records on West State St. in Trenton, NJ. The have a collection of "unofficial" WW I service records on microfilm that were compiled by the State Adjutant General in 1921. They are fairly complete and reasonably accurate. They should have a record of Milnor's service on hand.

It's unlikely I will get there anytime soon or I would be happy to dig it out for you. You may be able to call and make your request by phone though.

If you do find anything on him at all, I would be interested to hear of it. Also, any information you may already have migt be useful in tracking down specifics.

I'll keep fishing in the meanwhile.

Good luck -
Mike

[ONEALM]

Joseph Kirkbride Milnor
1910 US Census has him living in NJ with father Lloyd Milnor, born in Maryland and then employed as the President of an Auto Company, and mother, Gertrude (Palmer) Milnor born Connecticut.

In 1930, Milnor living in Ridgewood and now married to "Betres C"., certainly mispelled in the census, but should be Beatrice C., born in NY and their son Joseph K. Jr. Still employed as a bond salesman with an unknown company.

When JKM registered for the national draft during WW II they were at 134 Woodland Ave. in Ridgewood. He was now employed by the Van de Venter Bros. Inc. at 61 Broadway, NYC as a Bond Salesman.

According to the Social Security Death Index, he passed away in October 1965. If you have an exact date for that, it would be helpful.

(Maybe) More later,
Mike

[ONEALM]

If Milnor served with the French or the British (and I have yet to find evidence of that), the NJ Bureau of Archives and History may not have his service records. The absence of them is no indication he did serve with the Brits or French, but I have found that a very, very small percentage of those who did serve with other Allied nations have records in this collection.

So the absence of any records in Trenton *may* be instructive.

Also since this is not John Kennedy Milner whom we know was an observer, I should point out that Joseph Kirkbride Milnor does not appear on the "official" Air Force list of pilot officers commissioned prior to 11 November 1918. That may mean he completed his training after the war and was commissioned then or it may mean he served with another Allied Air Service or it may mean that he was an observer/gunner since they are not included on the list.

Still poking around....