Lieutenant Stanley K. Armstrong

Creator

Preview

Identifier

20031594

Description

Lieutenant Stanley K. Armstrong.A man in a uniform shirt and slacks and hat standing in front of the photo wall at the Star-Telegram. HE has on a service cap several shades darker than his uniform. He had has Army insignia, and he has a set of wings pinned above the breast pocket. There is a bar and another set of wings on his collar. His die, a solid color same hue level as the shirt is tucked into his shirt.Clipping: "Crane Lieutenant Is Home After 50 Combat MissionsLt. Stanley Armstrong Holds Air Medal, 9 Oak Leaf Clusters; Was Medium Bomber PilotFifty combat missions in the Mediterranean theater behind him, Second Lt. Stanley K. Armstrong, son of Mrs. Gladys Armstrong of Crane, is back in Texas on leave, with the Air Medal and nine Oak Leaf Clusters.Pilot of a B-25 medium bomber, Armstrong completed his combat duty Oct. 24. Overseas since February, he participated in the Tunisian campaign, the bombing of Pantelleria [in the Mediterranean between Tunis and Sicily, Italy], the attack on Sicily, which culminated in the July 6-10 invasion, and the storming of Salerno on the Italian mainland.His tailgunner was wounded March 31, during a Mitchell attack on an Axis convoy off Nort Africa. Skipbombing that day sent one enemy troop ship and two merchant vessels to the bottom.'Our P038 escort was knocking down transport aircraft when a Messerschmitt 109 got on our tail,' Armstrong said. 'Sergeant Brainerd, our tailgunner, who was a rancher from Montana, was hit and his machine gun belt was cut in two by the German pilot's fire, but he she the ME down with the last 30 rounds that went through is gun.'Armstrong's hottest raid took place on Easter Sunday, when his group was on a mission to bomb Siebel carriers [shallow draft catamaran boats for troop transport] in Tunis Harbor. Anit-aircraft fire was intense, and the fliers named the mission their 'Easter Parade.'Born at Strawn Oct. 15, 1920, Armstrong was graduated from the Grandfalls High School. He enlisted in the RCAF [Royal Canadian Air Force] in August, 1941, and transferred to the United States Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet in May, 1942. He was commissioned at Columbus, Miss, Sept. 6, 1942.Stamped: Star-Telegram Morn. Nov. 18, 1943

Archival Date

1943-11-16

Collection Name

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection

Collection Number

AR406-6-297

Original Format

Negatives, Black & White

File Format

JPG

Rights

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License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Subjects

Military decorations; Royal Canadian Air Force; U.S. Army Air Forces; Military air pilots