I have an envelope of a man who address himself as follows- T/ Sgt Richard W Stuart (note spelling) 10601019. USAAF, American Eagle Club 28 Charring Cross Rd. I already know the follwing facts- Service number 10601019. The 6 in the third place means he was inducted into the service outside of the USA. He was inducted as a Technical Sergeant (very unusual 99% are privates when they start even if they go onto to be commissioned) He became a POW in Stalag Luft XVIIB. On their records he is listed as “RCAF”. His service record says he was inducted on 26 May 1943. His POW record shows he was POW by 29 Sept 43. That gives a maximum of 4 months and you couldn’t complete any aircrew training in that short a time. He is not listed on as a crew member with any US Army Air Force plane that went down. Question was in one of the Eagle Squadrons or some other RAF unit that resulted in him becoming a POW? I do know that many Eagle Squadron Pilots enlisted as Canadians to avoid problems with their US citizenship during the American period of neutrality. Any help would be appreciated
Steve, there were only three Eagle Squadrons used by the RAF in the Second World War. By the end of 1942 all three had been folded back into the US Eight AF. The American Eagle Club was a social venue for American servicemen located in London. It offerd these men with just a touch of home, while they were overseas. My thought is that Mr. Stuart was not a pilot, or the member of a crew, and was captured while serving in some other capacity. The NARA has both enlistment and PoW records but niether mention where he enlisted or where he was captured. Please Wait...=
From Bill Chorley's "Bomber Command Losses 1943" T/Sgt Stuart (correct spelling) was one of two US airmen aboard this Canadian Halifax. From Chorley's crew matrix he would have been the mid upper gunner. Both men would have been former RCAF volunteers who accepted an offer to join the USAAF. Most who did so only for the pay difference and life insurance. The condition of them joining would be that they first finished their tours with British or Canadian squadrons. I would suspect T/Sgt Stuart was a Flight Sergeant and 2/Lt Clary a Pilot Officer in the RCAF. Some US volunteers in Bomber Command who enlisted in this fashion did so at the USAAF 12th Replacement Control Depot at Chorley, Lancashire (AAF-591) This site identified the Luftwaffe pilot who shot it down: Daily Operations An excellent source on US volunteers in the RAF and RCAF is the book "Immigrants of War" by W. Peter Fydenchuk. He also has a blog up: IMMIGRANTS OF WAR - Edit: Obituary of the pilot, Jackson Temple Clary of Santa Rosa, Ca. http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/l/a/Paul-Dennis-Clary-CA/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0423.html
Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Here is more about the Prinz. As you can see he didn't make it through the war and died in 1944. Also the crashsite of DK259 (Enschede, east Holland) was extremely close from the German border and Clary was very lucky to land on the right side of the border or he probably would have been captured too.
Brilliant! Could not have wished for more, thanks for all your help. Steve QUOTE=alieneyes;618240]From Bill Chorley's "Bomber Command Losses 1943" T/Sgt Stuart (correct spelling) was one of two US airmen aboard this Canadian Halifax. From Chorley's crew matrix he would have been the mid upper gunner. Both men would have been former RCAF volunteers who accepted an offer to join the USAAF. Most who did so only for the pay difference and life insurance. The condition of them joining would be that they first finished their tours with British or Canadian squadrons. I would suspect T/Sgt Stuart was a Flight Sergeant and 2/Lt Clary a Pilot Officer in the RCAF. Some US volunteers in Bomber Command who enlisted in this fashion did so at the USAAF 12th Replacement Control Depot at Chorley, Lancashire (AAF-591) This site identified the Luftwaffe pilot who shot it down: Daily Operations An excellent source on US volunteers in the RAF and RCAF is the book "Immigrants of War" by W. Peter Fydenchuk. He also has a blog up: IMMIGRANTS OF WAR - Edit: Obituary of the pilot, Jackson Temple Clary of Santa Rosa, Ca. The Paul D. Clary 111's of San Rafael, California:Information about Jackson Temple Clary[/QUOTE]
Hiya all! I hope you will read this message But on www.dk259.nl you will find a lot of info about Richard Stuart and the rest of the crew of the DK259 WL-L. Januari 2013 we came together with 4 guys to try and get some information about the plane and it's crew. 29th of September 2013 (70 years after the crash) we held a memorial. The idea started small, but in the end we had 13 familymembers of the crew, witnesses or their familymembers, officials etc. We also managed to get a lot of info about the crew. Now, december 2014, the search is still going on. This year we managed to 'find' Bertram Scudder. For over 70 years no-one knew who he was, how he looked etc. We now have his picture and more info. The past month we also got in touch with the family of William Bellinger. That is still pending but there are a lot of photo's and information coming our way. We are still looking for more information about the crew. Especially about Richard Stuart. We have some info and a picture after WW2, but not in touch with his family yet. So if anyone can help, that would be very awesome! Regards, Erik Schaddelee
