Stockton Rush Bartol (1922 - 1944)

Born 31 Jul 1922 in Pennsylvania, United States

Ancestors

Died 8 Apr 1944 at age 21 in Germany

Biography

Stockton Bartol was awarded the Purple Heart.

Stockton Bartol was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States).

Stockton Bartol was awarded the Air Medal.

1st Lieutenant Stockton Bartol served in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II
Service started:
Unit(s): 506th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group, Ninth Air Force
Service ended: 8 Apr 1944

1LT Stockton Bartol was Killed in Action during World War II.

He is buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Coton, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England^[1]

Research Notes

from [1] Legacy Page of John M. McCaslin of the 44th Bomb Group:

January 26, 1987

Dear Will:

I have your letter of January 20th concerning Stockton R. Bartol. He was a fine young man and I am glad to do what I can to honor his memory.

He was killed on April 8, 1944 over Hanover, Germany when some flak came through the windshield and hit him in the head. Our plane, though considerably riddled, did not suffer any extensive functional damage, and I had no undue difficulty in flying it back to England.

You already have considerable knowledge of that mission, and I'm not sure to what extent I should go into details. I will, however, set forth a number of observations and points of information for what they are worth.

1. My impression is that on that day, the 506th (lead Armstrong) was leading the 44th and the 44th was leading the 2nd Air Division. Stockton and I were flying on Col. John Gibson's left wing, and the deputy commander, Lt. Col. Robert Lehnhausen, was on Col. Gibson's right wing.

2. Shortly before reaching the target area, we were raked pretty severely with head-on attacks by ME109s. We took a hit in the leading edge of the left wing between the two engines which, unaccountably, seemed to do no serious damage.

3. Hanover, I believe, was our secondary target. I think this was the reason for the unusually long bomb run (straight and level for about four minutes); and hence the god-awful flak. I don't recall how many planes we lost, but I do know it was one of our bad days.

4. Because we were on the colonel's left wing, I had to fly cross-cockpit when in formation. Stockton, in the right seat, could more easily keep us in tight and hence flew during the bomb run. He was at the controls when he was hit. Despite my proximity to him, I wasn't even scratched, nor was anybody else on the crew. This happened almost exactly on "bombs away." Col. Gibson then took evasive action, but I did not stay with him due to the commotion in my plane. It was several minutes before I located the colonel and found a place in the formation.

5. The plane we were flying was "Galavantin' Gal" V-509 (42-75092), and a bottle "Old Crow" (41-24283) was painted on the other side of the nose.

6. My crew had not been together very long. We were, including myself, former members of other crews. The navigator was Al Williams and the bombardier was Bob Gutnecht. I think some of the gunners came from Bill Duffy's crew (as did I), but I'm not sure of it. Possibly, they included Dick Hershey, John Stewart and Bill Drumel.

7. Stockton had flown quite a number of missions with another pilot. Shortly before he was killed, I had checked him out in the left seat and he was in line to get a crew of his own.

8. Stockton entered the Army Air Force after completing his freshman year at Princeton University. He came from a well-to-do Philadelphia family who graciously entertained me after the war.

9. You perhaps heard the story from Bill Duffy that Stockton's father, for more than 20 years after the war, came annually to his son's grave in the American Military Cemetery in Cambridge.

From Legacy Page for William M Duffy of the 44th BG [2]:

WILLIAM DUFFY World War II Memories and Biography

(Taken from a letter to Will Lundy)

Box 125 Hockessin, DE 19707

January 14

Dear Will:

I received Your letter of December 18 and I think that I have the information that you need about Stockton R. Bartol. Sorry about the delay in responding but family problems have been many in recent weeks.

Bartol was killed while flying as copilot for John McCaslin. I've spoken to John about your letter and, as you might suppose, he has a vivid recollection of that tragic flight. Mac has practiced law in Ohio for many years and I know that he'll be glad to provide you with any information that he has. Address: John McCaslin, Esq., 125 East Sharon Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45246.

I've never forgotten John's experience and Bartol's death, and a visit to American (airman's) Cemetery at Cambridge in 1965 have helped to keep the events alive in my mind. I went first to the office and spoke to the captain in charge. He asked if there was anyone in whom I was particularly interested. I said, "Yes. Let's begin with Stockton Bartol." He said, "You mean Stockton R. Baxter?" Without checking any record, he took me right to the grave and there are thousands buried there. I was impressed, of course, but he explained that Bartol's father came over every year to visit his son's grave.

From Will Lundy's book [3]

Finally, one other 506th Squadron aircraft returned to base with a co-pilot killed in action. Although there is no official information in either the 506th Squadron or the 44th BG, the pilot of that plane, lst Lt. John M. McCaslin, Jr. sent his recollections of this tragedy. 506th SQUADRON: 506th Sq., #42-7509 Bar-V, McCaslin GALAVANTIN’ GAL Returned, salvaged
506th Squadron Crew:
McCASLIN, JOHN M. Jr. Pilot 1st Lt. Cincinnati, Ohio
BARTOL, STOCKTON R. Co-pilot lst Lt. Wynewood, Pennsylvania, KIA, buried Cambridge (C-2-15)
WILLIAMS, ALLEN N. Jr. Navigator 1st Lt.
GUTKNECHT, ROBERT E. Bombardier lst Lt. Maplewood, Missouri
PETERSON, MELVIN P. Radio Op. S/Sgt.
HALL, MAURICE G. Engineer T/Sgt.
STRUBLE, ROBERT Nose Turret T/Sgt.
RUSH, PERL R. RW Gunner S/Sgt.
RICHARDSON, COLEY W. LW Gunner S/Sgt.
GUTIERREZ, TRINADAD Tail Turret S/Sgt.
Note: Hall’s name is also listed as M. Glenn Hall.
Lt. McCaslin stated that, “My crew had not been together very long. We were, including myself, former members of other crews. I think some of the gunners came from Bill Duffy’s crew (as I did), but I’m not sure of it. Possibly, they included Richard Hershey, John Stewart and William Drumel. “Stockton had flown quite a number of missions with another pilot. Shortly before he was killed, I had checked him out in the left seat and he was in line to get a crew of his own. Stockton entered the Army Air Corps after completion of his freshman year at Princeton University. Note: Stockton Bartol had flown quite a number of missions with another pilot. In fact, he had flown 30 missions in all with three pilots, from 9 September 1943. “The plane that we were flying was GALAVANTIN’ GAL, with a bottle of ‘Old Crow’ painted on the other side of the nose. This old plane had flown the low level Ploesti mission. “My impression now is that on the mission of 8 April 44, the 506th was leading the 44th, and the 44th was leading the 2nd Air Division. Stockton and I were flying on Col. John Gibson’s left wing, and the deputy commander, Lt. Col. Robert Lehnhausen, was on Col. Gibson’s right wing. “Shortly before reaching the target area, we were raked pretty severely with head-on attacks by Me 109s. We took a hit in the leading edge of the left wing between number one and number two engines which, unaccountably, seemed to do no serious damage. “Hannover, I believe, was our secondary target. I think this was the reason for the unusually long bomb run (straight and level for about four minutes); and hence the god-awful flak. I don’t recall how many planes we lost, but I do know it was one of our very bad days. “Because we were on the Colonel’s left wing, I had to fly cross-cockpit when in formation. Stockton, in the right side seat, could more easily keep us in tight, and hence flew during the bomb run. He was at the controls when he was hit. “This happened almost exactly on ‘bombs away’. Some flak came through the windshield and hit him in the head. Despite my proximity to him, I wasn’t even scratched, nor was anybody else on the crew. Our plane, though considerably riddled, did not suffer any extensive functional damage, and I had no undue difficulty in flying it back to England. “Col. Gibson then took evasive action, but I did not stay with him due to the commotion in my plane. It was several minutes before I located the Colonel and found a place back in formation.” 1st Lt. Stockton R. Bartol was buried at the American Cemetery in Cambridge, England. Plot C, Row 2, Grave 15. His father visited him annually for more than 20 years. Robert Struble, the nose gunner, wrote: “Flak was so heavy we could not see our wing man on the bomb run. We took a burst in front of the cockpit dead even. One large piece of shrapnel went thru the cockpit safety glass, thru Bartol’s flak helmet, thru his head, thru the armor plate to his rear and hit the radio operator on the face which drew blood. “We lost #3 and #4 engines on the way back. At the base we cranked and pushed the wheels down. McCaslin sideslipped the ship in on the north/south runway for as beautiful a landing as I can remember. “After burying Bartol in Cambridge, we went on a rest leave to Southpool, England for a week.” Glenn Hall, the engineer, wrote: “We not only had a bomb sight for Robert Gutknecht, our bombardier, but also we had a nose gunner who was an engineer. On the bomb run our tail gunner, Trinadad Gutierrez was letting us know as each plane was shot down. As I remember it, we had dropped our bombs before Bartol was hit. He was wearing a flak vest and flak helmet. He was hit in the forehead just below the helmet. He was flying the plane when he was hit. Gutknecht acted as co-pilot until we were ready to land and then I sat in the right seat and the nose gunner took over as engineer. Two weeks later that plane had armor glass, but it was too late for Bartol.”

was the ggg grandson of Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Durbin-702 19:09, 1 December 2016 (EST)

Sources

1. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #56287609 Stockton Rush Bartol

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHZS-F4W : accessed 29 November 2016), Stockton R Bartol in household of George E Bartol, Lower Merion, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 72, sheet 6A, line 30, family 111, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2082; FHL microfilm 2,341,816.
• "United States Census, 1940," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQDT-9RC : accessed 30 November 2016), Stockton R Barton in household of George E Barton, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 46-92, sheet 9B, line 55, family 154, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 3580.
• "United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8PF-4PT : 5 December 2014), Stockton R Bartol, enlisted 16 Apr 1942, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946," database, The National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD) (http://aad.archives.gov : National Archives and Records Administration, 2002); NARA NAID 126323, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
• "Lt. Bartol Dies in Raid on Reich; Financier's Son." The Philadelphia Inquirer 23 Apr 1944: 1. Print.