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Personal info

Full name
STUART, Gaines Randall
Date of birth
19 September 1919
Age
25
Place of birth
Lenoir, Loudon County, Tennessee
Hometown
Morgan County, Alabama

Military service

Service number
O-825708
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
763rd Bombardment Squadron,
460th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
16 October 1944
Place of death
Graz, Austria

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
Plot Row Grave
K 24 8

Immediate family

Members
Clyde B. Stuart Sr. (father)
Alice (Ramsey) Stuart (mother)
Clyde B. Stuart Jr. (brother)
Margaret L. (Nash) Stuart (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-99798
Data
Type: B-24J
Nickname: Ashean Charley
Destination: Graz, Austria
Mission: Bombing of the marshalling yards
MACR: 9303

More information

2nd Lt Gaines R. Stuart attended 2 years of college and was a sales manager with the Coca_cola Bottling Co. before he joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Birmingham, Alabama on 13 October 1942.

1st Lt Walter C. Martin Jr.:

I was flying number five position of the lead box of the third attack unit when we went over the target at Graz, Austria. Lt Berry was flying #42-99798 in number seven position. Over the target the flak was intense and accurate. Just after the bombs were away, Lt Berry’s plane evidently suffered a direct hit as it exploded. I saw only the actual explosion as it was almost instantly out of my line of vision. My left waist gunner reported that the plane had disintegrated.

S/Sgt Roy F. Kragel:

He bailed out but parachute caught fire when he left plane.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Our Family Tree / U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, www.fold3.com, www.findagrave.com, http://aircrewremembered.com/USAAFCombatOperations/Oct.44.html
Photo source: The Decatur Daily 20 March 1944