LUCKYLUCKADOO.COM
Lucky-Sully Memorial
Lucky's Final Wishes
Maj. John H. “Lucky” Luckadoo shared a deep and lifelong bond with his best friend, fellow pilot, and fellow Chattanooga native, Flight Lieutenant Leroy Means “Sully” Sullivan, who was killed in a Hawker Typhoon crash on November 7, 1943, while serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force. In keeping with Maj. Luckadoo’s final wishes, a portion of his ashes was laid to rest at the Lucky-Sully Memorial in the memorial garden of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler, Georgia on May 24, 2026, serving as Maj. Luckadoo's only marked gravesite.
About the Lucky-Sully Memorial
One side of the Lucky-Sully Memorial displays the Lucky Legacy plaque which consists of a photo relief bronze casting of Maj. Luckadoo's 1942 air cadet portrait, unit patches of the Eighth Air Force, 100th Bomb Group, 350th Bomb Squadron, and 351st Bomb Squadron. A facsimile of the hand-painted "Lucky" originally found on Maj. Luckadoo's Type A-2 leather flight jacket also appears in relief below the Eighth Air Force unit patch.
The 100th Bomb Group Foundation's technical expert Michael Faley brought in historical consultant Karl Hauffe and graphic artist Jan Zdiarsky to create a historically accurate side profile of “Alice from Dallas II”, the B-17 on which John “Lucky” Luckadoo and Bill DeSanders flew their 25th and final combat mission together on February 13, 1944.
Lucky Legacy Plaque Text
“LUCKY”
In lasting tribute to Major
JOHN HAMPTON LUCKADOO
An American Airman
Who served with distinction in the United States Army Eighth Air Force’s High-Altitude Daylight Strategic Bombing Campaign to liberate Europe from tyranny in World War II
Born 16th March 1922, in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Flew West on 1st September 2025, at the age of 103, having been the last living pilot of the original cadre assigned to the 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts, U.K., in June 1943, and one of four of the original 40 100th Bomb Group co-pilots to have completed their quota of 25 combat missions
“It didn’t really matter how well you performed, or what you did or didn’t do, it was matter of pure luck if you came through.”
“I was incredibly fortunate under all those adverse circumstances to be a survivor. I’m no hero. I’m a survivor, and if you lived through what we did, you were just a survivor.”
-- John “Lucky” Luckadoo
Best friend to Flight Lieutenant Leroy Means “Sully” Sullivan, RCAF, whose plaque resides on the opposite side of this monolith
Dedicated by family and friends with a portion of Maj. Luckadoo’s ashes laid to rest at the base of this memorial
May 2026
Sully's Plaque
The opposite side of the Lucky-Sully Memorial displays the plaque that Maj. Luckadoo dedicated in 2022 to his best friend, Flight Lieutenant Leroy Means “Sully” Sullivan of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Sully's Plaque Text
“MY BEST FRIEND SULLY”
In lasting tribute to Flight Lieutenant
LEROY MEANS SULLIVAN
An American Airman
Who heroically served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II
56 (Punjab) R.A.F. Squadron
Born 20th December 1921, in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Killed in service on 7th November 1943 while piloting an R.A.F. Hawker Typhoon at R.A.F. Station Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, England
Final resting place Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, United Kingdom
“If I should die, think only this of me: that there's some corner of a foreign field that is forever Tennessee”
-- Sully Sullivan 1943
Always loved, forever missed, never forgotten
Dedicated by best freind Maj. John H. "Lucky" Luckadoo
B-17 pilot, Eighth Air Force, 100th Bomb Group
May 2022