EASTERN IOWANS ARE GRADUATED AS ARMY PILOTS
A number of men from eastern Iowa became combat pilots last week in graduation ceremonies of the AAF training command in Texas and Oklahoma. All received commissions as second lieutenants.
Among the graduates were: Stanley G. Steiner, of Monticello, Foster field, Texas;
Source: Cedar Rapids Gazette, March 21, 1944 (graduate photo included)
GRADUATES IN GUNNERY CLASS
Lt. Stanley Steiner Is Among Group
Lt. Stanley G. Steiner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur O. Steiner, graduated from the fixed aerial gunnery base of the AAF training command at Matagorda Peninsula, Texas, last Friday in the most colorful collection of fighter pilots now in this country.
Lt. Steiner attended Iowa State College at Ames and won his wings and commission at Foster Field, Texas, in March of this year.
Thirty-nine per cent of this class are combat pilots back from the battle-skies of the Solomon and Fiji Islands, New Guinea, Africa, Pantelleria, Sicily, China, Burma or India. Admittedly among the world’s most lethal airmen already, they returned to this sandy strip in the Gulf of Mexico for a month’s intense study of the latest scientific techniques in fighter pilot gunnery. Many are their flying feats, which have yet to teach the public. It can be told that among the group are pilots who have destroyed such targets as lighthouses, radar stations, and German “chow lines” in addition to Jap transports, pill-boxes, merchant vessels, anti-aircraft emplacements and enemy tanks and trucks. Seven have won the honored Purple Heart, a dozen the DFC, while air medals and clusters are nearly as numerous as Texas spring flowers. One AAF captain was even awarded the Navy Cross; several are former members of units receiving a Presidential citation.
These “back-for-more” pilots flew a total of 4,500 combat hours on some 1,767 individual missions.
Source: Monticello Express, April 27, 1944
Lt. Stanley Steiner Now Listed as Dead
Special to The Gazette.
MONTICELLO—The War Department has advised Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Steiner that their son, Lt. Stanley G. Steiner, 19, who was reported missing last April 25 [1944] on a routine flight in Texas, has been officially listed as dead.
Lt. Steiner was born in Monticello Sept. 29, 1924, and was graduated from Hopkinton high school in 1942. He entered Iowa State College and Nov. 30, 1942, he enlisted in the army air corps and was called for active duty Feb. 2, 1943. He won his wings and commission at Foster field, Victoria, Texas, March 12, 1944, and last April 21, he was graduated from the aerial gunnery base at Madagorda peninsula, Texas. He then served as a flight instructor.
Besides his parents, a brother, Vernon, chief petty officer now serving in the Pacific area, and two sisters, Ruth and Dorothy Mae, survive.
Source: Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 23, 1944 (photo included)
Lt. Stanley Steiner Funeral Held Yesterday
The body of Lt. Stanley Steiner, 19, was found in his plane, according to a telegram received September 14, by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Steiner of Monticello. His body wads brought to Monticello Monday morning, September 18, accompanied by First Lt. William A. Schleich.
Funeral services were held yesterday morning at 10 o’clock from the Goettsch funeral home to the Evangelical and Reformed Church in Monticello. Rev. Andre3w Mast, pastor of that church, was in charge of the services, assisted by Rev. Armin Tendick, pastor of the Baxter Reformed Church, and a former pastor in Monticello. Interment was made at Oakwood Cemetery.
The services at the grave were participated in by a platoon of soldiers from the Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Ill. They formed a guard of honor and acted as pallbearers. The flag covering the casket was presented to Lt. Steiner’s parents. Volleys were fired and taps sounded in honor of the deceased aviator.
Airplane Discovered.
Fishermen working with nets in the Matagorda Bay near Victoria, Texas, discovered the submerged plane. They had let down their nets and were pulling them up when a net caught on the wing of the plane. Army authorities were notified, and the plane was raised, and Lt. Stanley Steiner’s body recovered.
The telegram received by Mr. and Mrs. Steiner, September 14, stated: “The airplane in which your son, J.G. Lt. Stanley Steiner was lost, April 25, 1944, has been discovered submerged in Matagorda Bay, about eight miles northeast of this station. The remains of Lt. Steiner have been taken to a funeral home in Victoria, Tex. ~Lt. Commander John W. William, Commanding Officer.”
A second telegram was received notifying as to when the body would reach Monticello from Foster Field, Texas.
Born In 1924.
Lt. Steiner was born Sept. 29, 1924, near Hopkinton. He was graduated from the Hopkinton high school with the Class of 1942, and completed his first quarter of study at Iowa State college. He enlisted in the air corps Nov. 30, 1942, and was called to active duty Feb. 2, 1943. He was given two months training in Kansas City and transferred to San Antonio, Texas.
After his basic and preflight training at Greenville and Stanford, Texas, he attended and advanced school at Victoria, Texas, receiving his wings and commission March 12, 1944. Lt. Steiner was detailed for a course in aerial gunnery and was named instructor at Matagorda Peninsula post, in which capacity he was serving at the time of his ill-fated flight.
Lt. Steiner had taken his plane up for a local flight at 9:25 a.m. Tuesday, April 25, and failed to return. Searching parties abandoned hope after combing the area within a 125 mile radius.
Survivors.
In addition to his parents, Lt. Steiner is survived by two sisters at home, Ruth and Dorothy Mae, and a brother, Chief Petty Officer Vernon Steiner, a storekeeper in the navy, who has just come back from the South Pacific and is now located at San Pedro, Calif. He is home on leave.
Source: Monticello Express, September 21, 1944
Rescue Vessel Named For Lt. S. G. Steiner
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur O. Steiner received a letter dated April 5, from Col. Roy W. Osborn, Air Corps Commander, Foster Field, Tex., telling them that an aircraft rescue boat has been named in honor of their late son, Lt. Stanley Steiner, who crashed at sea April 25, 1944.
The letter follows:
“My dear Mr. and Mrs. Steiner:
“The Commanding General, Army Air Forces, has authorized the naming of all floating equipment under the jurisdiction of this Headquarters, after deceased Army Air Forces personnel, as a fitting memorial to their honorable service. It gives me pleasure to inform you than an aircraft rescue boat is to be named the Lt. Stanley G. Steiner, in honor of your late son, who was killed in an aircraft accident at this station.
“This boat is a 42-foot rescue vessel used in the waters between the mainland and the gunnery ranges on Matagorda Island and Matagorda Peninsula, in the event pilots are forced to bail out or land in that area. This boat serves a vital part in the training mission of this station, and we are proud to be able to name it in honor of your late son.
~Roy W. Osborn, Colonel Air Corps Commanding.
Source: Monticello Express, April 26, 1945
Stanley George Steiner was born Sept. 29, 1924 to Arthur Otto and Olena Wilhelmina Harms Steiner. He died Apr. 25, 1944 and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Monticello, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
