WHEREABOUTS
Aviation Cadet Donald G. Stubbs, son of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Stubbs, 1604 Delaware avenue southeast, has entered the army air forces pre-flight school at Selman Field, La. He will be a navigator.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, Wednesday, March 10, 1943, Page 18
WHEREABOUTS
Mr. and Mrs. Glenn C. Stubbs, 1604 Delaware avenue southeast, have learned that their son, Cadet Donald Stubbs, has completed his pre-flight training course in navigation at the army air forces school at Selman field, Monroe, La. He will begin immediately his advanced study of the subject at the same field.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, Monday, May 3, 1943, Page 11
WHEREABOUTS
Aviation Cadet Donald G. Stubbs, son of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Stubbs, 1604 Delaware avenue southeast, has been transferred from Selman field, Monroe, La., to Douglas field, Ga.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, Saturday, September 11, 1943, Page 3
WHEREABOUTS
Aviation Cadet Donald G. Stubbs, 1604 Delaware S. E., has just arrived at the army air forces pilot school at Cochran field, Macon, Ga. The facilities of this field are devoted to the secondary phase of flight instruction.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, November 15, 1943
First Lt. Donald G. Stubbs, son of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn C. Stubbs of 1604 South Delaware, and pilot of a 15th AAF Liberator bomber, is shown being presented the air medal by his group commander, Lt. Col. S.E. Manzo, at a heavy bomber station in southern Italy. The picture was sent from 15th AAF headquarters in Italy.
Since coming overseas last August, Lt. Stubbs has taken part in 15 combat missions to axis targets in southern and central Europe. The former Mason City junior college student joined the army in June, 1943, as an aviation cadet, and took pilot training at Moody Field, Ga., Fort Myers, Fla., and Charleston, S. Car.
MISSING IN ACTION
First Lt. Donald G. Stubbs has been missing in action over Italy since Nov. 12, according to a telegram from the war department received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn C. Stubbs, 1604 Delaware S. E.
Lt. Stubbs was serving with the 15th AAF in Italy and had received the air medal from his commanding officer. He went overseas in August.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, Monday, November 27, 1944 (award photo included)
J. C. Sends 143 To War Service
Three Give Lives to County; Two Missing
Of the 605 students who have been graduated since 1918 from the Mason City Junior College, 143 have given service for World War II.
Three boys, Warren Krueger and Howard Ross of Clear Lake, and Lloyd Woodhouse of Plymouth, have paid the supreme sacrifice while Vernon James Orr and Donald Stubbs of Mason City have been reported as missing in action. James R. Brown of the Class of ’39 is in a German prison camp.
Source: The Globe Gazette, February 24, 1945
LT. STUBBS WAS KILLED in ACTION in NOVEMBER
Had Been Reported Missing in Italy Since That Date
First Lt. Donald G. Stubbs, who has been listed as missing in action since last Nov. 12, was killed in action on that date, according to a message from the war department received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn C. Stubbs, who lived in Mason City until last April when they moved to Forest City.
The message stated that unavoidable circumstances had made necessary the unusual lapse of time in reporting the lieutenant's death and that a confirming letter would follow.
The Stubbs had heard indirectly from a returned soldier of the 15th air force that the B-24 Lt. Stubbs was piloting had received a direct hit over Brenner pass in northern Italy and had gone down in flames.
The air medal with oak leaf added had been received by his parents a short time ago. The decoration had been presented to Stubbs last October. Lt. Stubbs was born at Earlham on May 11, 1922, and the same year came with his parents to Mason City, where he attended the Mason City schools. He was graduated from the public high school and the junior college in 1942.
He enlisted in the air corps in the following July but was not called into active service until January, 1943. He received his commission as pilot from Moody field, Ga., in March, 1944, and went overseas last August. He was promoted to first lieutenant overseas.
Besides his parents he is survived by a sister, Miss Gretchen Stubbs of Minneapolis, and 2 brothers at home, Gerald and Charles. His grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. A. W, Stubbs, live at 511 14th S. E., and his grandmother, Mrs. S. W. Kirkpatrick, at Central Heights.
He was a member of the Wesley Methodist church.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, July 17, 1945 (photo included)
DEDICATION SERVICE
A headstone honoring the memory of Lt. Donald Stubbs will be placed on the Glenn C. Stubbs lot in Elmwood cemetery Sunday afternoon at 2:30. The dedication services are in charge of Doctor Paul Arnold Peterson, pastor of the Wesley Methodist church. In the event of rain the services will be held at the church.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, September 27, 1945, Page 15
MEMORIAL SERVICE SUNDAY TO HONOR FIGHTING MEN
Joint public memorial service honoring 6 men of the armed forces who have given their lives in combat will be held Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock at Music Hall. The Rev. Ernest A. Bergeson, pastor of the Immanuel Lutheran Church, will give the eulogy. Mrs. T. J. Kiesselbach will be soloist.
Burial flags from the U. S. government will be present to the next of kin of the following: Clair B. Edel, Gordon Findlay, Edwin E. Sowles, Donald G. Stubbs, William F. Wahrer, Jr., and Cletus D. Weiland.
Gold star citation scrolls from the national department of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and flowe4rs from the 2 organizations will also be presented to the relatives of the men honored.
The service will open with a 5 minute piano prelude, played by Mrs. Harry Wolf. Honor guard and firing squad for the service will be furnished by Company E of the Iowa State Guard, under the command of Capt. Leslie Whipple.
A letter of condolence from the city government will be read by Mrs. Clifford Dehnert, president of the American Legion Auxiliary. Buglers of the day are Bill Nicholas and John Reuber. The services, sponsored by the American Legion and the V. F. W., will be under the direction of the Legion, with Comdr. Elias Kelroy presiding.
All veterans’ organizations will attend in a body with their colors and are requested to be a Music Hall at 3:45.
Tyler Stewart is in charge of arrangements.
Source: Mason City Globe-Gazette, September 28, 1945 (photos included)
Memorial at Elmwood for Stubbs
Memorial services for Donald G. Stubbs were held at Elmwood cemetery Sunday afternoon in connection with the dedication of a head stone for him at the Glenn Stubbs lot, Doctor Paul Peterson, pastor of the Wesley Methodist church, conducted the services.
Said Dr. Peterson: "There is nothing here but a marker with the name and dates of a lad we loved. And yet, that is all that a grave is; no grave holds one we love. There is nothing in man's body which enables him to will, to remember, to love - that comes from the mind and the spirit of man. And these are detached from the human body.
"To some of you loved ones, it might seem tragic that his body is not here, but the body merely goes back to the earth from which it came . . . Without a doubt Don knew all the dangers involved. He never once thought he would be exempt from tragedy, for war is no discriminator of persons. If life had been kind and he had been saved, he would have been thankful, but if life took him, he was thankful that he could have been a link in forging that new world for which he died.
"One can speak of Don's loyalty . . . of his being faithful to the vows he took as a member, but faith is deeper than mere externals. Faith is what a man has in his soul when no one is looking, something which enables him to commune with the underlying forces of the universe . . . . In our indifferences to the greater values of life, Don's grave will remain a mere headstone, but in our loyalty to loyalty, he will live through us with greater vitality than in the days of his flesh."
MEMORIAL HELD FOR 6 MEN WHO DIED IN SERVICE
Bergeson Speaks on Triumph Over Sorrow in Eulogizing Dead
"To you who have faced this sorrow may you be able to ascend your Mount Moriah," spoke the Rev. Ernest A. Borgeson, pastor of the Immanuel Lutheran church, at public memorial service at Music hall Sunday afternoon in eulogizing the lives of 6 servicemen from this community.
Maj. Louis D. Kuss, commanding officer from the ATC air base, Wold-Chamberlain field, Minneapolis, was in attendance to present the air medal with oak leaf cluster to G. C. Stubbs, awarded posthumously to his son, Donald G. Stubbs, one of the men honored.
The other five to whom tribute was paid and whose relatives were presented burial flags from the U. S. government were Clair B. Edel, Gordon Findlay, Edwin E. Sowles, William F. Wahrer, Jr., and Cletus D. Weiland. Gold star citation scrolls and flowers from the local American Legion post and the V. F. W. were also given to the next of kin.
"There are many sorrows that we must face but many that come to us if we cannot ascend our Mount Moriah," said Mr. Borgeson, drawing a parallel between the sacrifices families have been asked to make in the war and the sacrifice Abraham was asked to make in offering his only son, Isaac on the altar at Mount Moriah.
". . . God said to Abraham, 'Because thou hast not withheld I will bless thee - in thy seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed.'
"May you too ascend your Mount Moriah and carry on what they fought for the way God would have us let go, and go forth for what they died for. May we gain new strength and power to face the world without those who have gone . . . to surrender to God and go forth to do our tasks in life knowing that these dead have done theirs," concluded the pastor.
Maj. Kuss in the brief presentation of the award to Mr. Stubbs said in part: "By direction of the president and in behalf of the government of the United States, I present this medal awarded to your son for meritorious service with the 15th AAF in Italy."
A letter of condolence from the city government written by Mayor H. E. Bruce was read by Mrs. Clifford Delinert, president of the American Legion Auxiliary, "For many families war was over for their fathers, sons, brothers or husbands long before the war was officially declared over," it read. "For those who have only the dear memories of their loved ones, and the pride of their epic achievement, the situation resolves itself into a pattern of hope that these, the flower of our young manhood, shall not have died in vain."
The program opened with a piano prelude played by Mrs. Harry Wolf. Mrs. T. J. Kiesselbach sang "Prayer" by Guion and "O Brother, Fold In Thy Heart, Thy Brother" by Ward. She was accompanied by Mrs. Wolf.
The honor guard and firing squad were furnished by Company E of the Iowa state guard, Sgt. Frank Schoben in charge. Others in the group were Pfc. Dean Jacobson, Pvt. Bob Frid, Pvt. Antonio Devell, Jr., and Pvt. Jack Kaloplostos.
Patriotic organizations attended in a body with their colors. Elias Kelroy, commander of the Legion, presided. Tyler Stewart was in charge of arrangements.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, October 01, 1945, Page 11
Bodies Arrive From Overseas
Forty-five Iowans are among the remains of 2,554 Americans who lost their lives in World War II, whose bodies were due to arrive from the Mediterranean area Saturday aboard the Army transport, John L. McCarley.
Armed forces dead originally interred in temporary military cemeteries in North Africa and Italy are among those brought back.
North Iowans in the list together with the next of kin are listed below:
Pvt. Theodore E. Anderson; Arthur Anderson, Decorah.
2nd Lt. Wayne O. Bjustrom; Roy O. Bjustrom, Algona.
Cpl. Arthur P. Clemitson; Halvor A. Clemitson, Graettinger.
T/4 Virgil L. Ebough; Fred Ebough, Waverly.
Pfc. Roy J. Schultz; Walter T. Schultz, Mason City.
1st Lt. Donald G. Stubbs; Glenn C. Stubbs, Mason City.
Source: The Globe Gazette, May 29, 1949
Lt. Donald G. Stubbs Rites to Be Saturday Afternoon
Services for First Lt. Donald G. Stubbs, who was killed in action Nov. 12, 1944, at Brenner pass in northern Italy, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Major Memorial chapel, with Doctor Paul A. Peterson, pastor of Wesley Methodist church, officiating.
The body will arrive in Mason City Saturday at 7:45 a.m. via the Milwaukee Road.
Military services will be conducted at the grave in Memorial Park cemetery, with military orders in charge.
BORN AT EARLHAM.
Lt. Stubbs was born at Earlham on May 11, 1922, and that same year came to Mason City with his parents. He attended the Mason City schools and was graduated from the high school in 1940 and the junior college in 1942.
He enlisted in the air corps at Des Moines, July 5, 1942, and took his flight training at Moody field, Ga., where he was commissioned. He was assigned to the Ferry Command and later took bomber training at Charleston, S. Car. He went overseas in August, 1944.
Lt. Stubbs was a member of the Wesley church of Mason City.
PARENTS SURVIVE.
Surviving are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn C. Stubbs, Forest City; sister, Mrs. Charles Van Hoff, Minneapolis; 2 brothers, Gerald and Charles, at home; and grandparents, Mrs. S. W. Kirkpatrick and Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Stubbs, Mason City.
Interment will be at Memorial Park cemetery. The Major funeral home in charge.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, June 17, 1949 (soldier photo included)
