S/Sgt G.A. Stidham, USAAF

[Ivo de Jong]

I recently acquired a copy of 'Britain's homage to 28,000 American dead', which was published by "The Times" in 1952. Each of these books was individually dedicated to an American serviceman, whose name was inscribed on the front of that book, in gold lettering, and was presented to his next-of-kin.
The copy I have is dedicated to S/Sgt G.A. Stidham, USAAF.

As of now, I am unable to find any details on the death of this man. The only "G.A. Stidham" I can find in the enlistment records is a Guy A. Stidham, who enlisted into the Army Air Corps in Houston,Texas on October 23, 1942, and received Army Serial Number 18188965.

The letter (from 1954), which accompanied the book, is adressed to Mrs. C.F. Stidman, Rt. 3, Box 725, Roseburg, Oregon.
In the post-war casualty listings I am unable to find Stidman. However, "The Times" must have received his name from the US authorities when they were preparing and publishing their book in the early 1950's....

Does anyone have a clue who this S/Sgt G.A. Stidham was, and how he was killed?

Thanks in advance,
Ivo de Jong

[Leendert]

Ivo,

Try this link: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-...avid&id=I25899

Groet,

Leendert

[Leendert]

Ivo,

The Stidham family has a webpage dedicated to those who served in WW IIl on http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.c.../HonorRoll.htm

Guy A. Stidham is mentioned indeed, but no reference to a fatality with him.

Grant Stidham died on 24 Jan 43 in AT-6B 41-17331 and George L. Stidham in B-24E 42-7311 on 28 Jul 1943.

Groet,

Leendert

[Ivo de Jong]

Thanks Leendert,
I have sent the webmaster an e-mail and hope that he may have a clue.
I still hope that one of the TOCH community members may have an answer on the background of the death of S/Sgt Stidham.
Kind regards
Ivo de Jong

[Alex Smart]

Hello Ivo,
NARA has this
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-d...=1&rid=1625567

Which confirms the details you gave.

I have posted a link to this thread on the www.armyairforces.com forum

Alex

[RSwank]

I think we have gone off track here. I started working backwards from what I think is the next of kin notification to Mrs C. F. Stidham in Roseburg OR.


Carol Frances Casey married Winfield Scott Stidham in Kentucky.

Carol Frances Casey Stidham died 2 Mar 1964 and is buried in Roseburg, Douglas Co., Oregon

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-...david&id=I5954

They had four children, including Scott Allen Stidham.

S/Sgt Scott Allen Stidham apparently died in a mission over Germany 4 May 43.


http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-...david&id=I5956

I am thinking there was an error in the name G A Stidham vs S A Stidham.

Note: I can't find Scott Allen Stidham in fold3.com as lost on 4 May 43, there were only 4 B-17s lost that day and he does not seem to be on any of them, so still a little work to do. Note Kelly's plane, (one of the 4 listed as lost), 42-29660 is not on fold3.com.
**Note Correction here: 42-29660 which is listed on the armyairforces.com database as crashing on 4 May 43, actually crashed on 5 April 43 as was noted by Ivo below).

Some of the planes seem to be on this list. It looks like Kelly's plane may be missing one person, only 9 names listed.
http://www.wingstovictory.nl/database/pdf/554-story.pdf
(**Note: Per correction above Kelly's plane did not crash on the date in question, so this was a false lead. Sometimes "Stuff" Happens)


I checked up on a few things. Scott A Stidham from Douglas County did enlist in Portland, OR on 16 Jul 41. His serial number was 19004178.

Scott A Stidham, serial number 19004178, is listed as DNB in Grand County, UT on the archives.gov casualty lists for WWII.
http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry...oreeID=1134291
So, some mystery still remains. I don't know if there was a records screw-up, or what.

[shooshoobaby]

Ivo , Rolland -
I also found Scott A. Stidham.
He is Listed in 8th AF Roll of Honor. It lists Him as in the 94th BG - KIA .
No other Info.
Could Guy be " Nickname " ?
Cheers,
Mike

[RSwank]

Mike, very interesting.
There is a Scott A Stidham listed with the Workman Crew of the 94th on this list of bombardiers (search for Stidham).

http://freepages.military.rootsweb.a...er/c_names.htm

The problem with the list is that when I check on fold3.com, Stidham is not listed on the crew when the plane was lost on 29 May 43. What might have happened is that Stidham was on that crew originally and was KIA or DNB on an earlier mission (maybe on 4 May). He may have been killed in action or may have died from a failure of the O2 system, something like that. Whatever happened the plane returned on that mission (hence no MACR) and Stidham was replaced. That's my working hypothesis at this point.....

Another odd thing, there are two names on the Workman crew on the list above that were not on the plane 29 May 43 when it went down, Stidham and Garland L Strang.
Garland L Strang was from Maine and he is listed as DNB on the Maine casualty lists.
Strang's family was notified of his death in Europe sometime around the middle of May, 1943.
http://www.mainegavemany.com/StrangG.html

[Ivo de Jong]

Rolland, Mike,
Thanks for your diligent search and comments!!
I do believe that we have the right man here, and the entry on the cover of the book is in error and should be 'S.A. Stidham'. Great detective work on your part!

Rolland: please note that the link you provided to the 'winged victory' site concerns the mission of April 5, 1943 and not the one of May 4, 1943 (it's the common confusion of 'what are you reading when you see 5/4/43'...... Europeans see April 5, 1943 and Americans May 4, 1943).
The May 4 mission was flown without loss to the 8th AF.

So, since Stidham is listed as 'DNB' it seems likely that he died as a cause of illness, an accident or suicide. If he had died on board of one of the B-17's or B-24's due to flak or fighter fire, or due to anoxia, he would not have been listed as DNB, I believe.
At this moment I don't have access to Hey and Bishop's books 'losses of the 8th and 9th Air Forces'. I recall that they do list the DNB's in an appendix. Does either of you have access to the volume concerned?

Again, thanks very much for your help!
Ivo de Jong

[Alex Smart]

Hello,
Don't know if you have seen it but in
"Losses of the 8th and 9th Air Forces" vols 1 & 2, by Bishop & Hey.

Page 499 vol 1
18th May 1943
Unknown 305BG,365BS
*Pvt Thomas R Halleran
Killed/Died on this date ? Buried Cambridge Plot F-7-87.
Unknown 94BG, 410BS
*S/Sgt Scott A Stidham *S/Sgt Garland L Strang
Killed/Died this date ? Both were buried in Brookwood Cemetery.
Later returned for final burial to Oregon and Maine respectively.

Page 485 vol 2
Additions and corrections vol1
499 18 May 1943
Pvt Thomas R Halleran, 305BG, 305BS, (typo for 365BS ?) was killed in a road traffic accident.

As Halleran was killed in a traffic accident is it not possible that this was also the fate of both Strang and Stidham ? Also B17 42-29819 of the 305BG transfered to the AFSC this date was salvaged this date so perhaps a fatal accident involving that B17 ?

P.S.
Re the Workman crew 42-29710 "Hell Below", 29th May 1943, this a/c was lost on the 94th's first Mission from Earls Colne, 2 KIA,8 POW.
MACR 15139
Crew
Workman; Downey; Petruzzi +; Carroll; Stevenson; Webster; Lowe; Ferentinos +; Koch; Muir.

All for now
Alex