Herbert Waguette STANFORD

 

stanford herbert w

Source : Tony Destro

NUMBER OF SERVICEO-803485 (12098205)
AGE24 yo
DATE OF BIRTH22 May 1920
ENLISTMENT STATENEW YORK 
FAMILY

Spouse : Marian

Parents : Herbert Francis & Julia Wacuette STANFORD

RANKLieutenant 
FONCTIONPilot
JOB BEFORE ENLISTEMENTLaboratory technicians and assistantsNE
DATE of ENLISTEMENT 27 June 1942 Rochester NEW YORK 
 SQUADRON388th Fighter Squadron 
 GROUP365th Fighter Group 
ARMY9th US Air Force 
DATE OF DEATH18 July 1944

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Source :  Erin Proctor

STATUSKIA
PLACE OF DEATH Les Rouges Terres -  N de Rabodanges
DATA PLAN 

P-47 Thunderbolt - type D-22-R - s/n 42-26259 C4*?

"Marian"

 blosville

Macr : 6877
Mission : Armed reconnaissance towards Vire (14)

Takeoff site A-7 Azeville (50)

Shot down in aerial combat at 9 a.m.

Airplane evacuated at, too low altitude - parachute not open

CEMETERY TEMPORARY

 

CEMTERY TEMPORARY of  Marigny N°3555

blosville

Story of Cemetery Temporary  

CEMETERYBRITTANY AMERICAN CEMETERY of St James (Montjoie St Martin)

Map of St James American Cemetery

GRAVE
PlotRowGrave
F912
DECORATION

Air Medal & 9 Oak Leaf Clusters

Purple Heart

World War II Victory Medal 

Brevet Pilote

 

am

Photo FDLM

victory medal

combat infantryman badge

 

 

usaf 9af 365fb 386 fighter bomb squadron

 

    

 
STORY

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Stele to Putanges-le-Lac (anciennement sur Rabodanges)

Source : Aerosteles.net

  

Herbert Stanford was born on September 22, 1920, in Verona, near New York. He was the youngest of family with five children, with French origins. One of his ancestors, called Waguette, left Alsace-Moselle before 1900 for the United States. At the age of 14, he met Marian, 13, who would become his wife nine years later. His mother dead when he was 16, he lived with his father and his brother William in a farm near Rochester (New York State). He participated in the fields works while finding an interest in cars, hunting and guitar.
He was a boy very appreciated by his relatives. Brilliant studies at the University, where he got awards and science diplomas, would have allowed him to become a chemical engineer. But Herbert was passionate about aviation and took flight lessons. In June 1942, he joined the US Air Force. After passing through different formation and training centers, he got his silver wings, the American pilots insignia, in May 1943. On June 10, 1943, during a furlough, he married Marian.

Assigned to the 365th hunting group of the 9th US Air Force, Herbert Stanford reached England on December 1943. There, he would participate to the preparing operations for the Landing. On June 6, 1944, the Allied landed in Normandy. The first regions barely liberated, the air engineering made significant efforts to build advanced airfields. That is how in Fontenay-sur-Mer, commune located in the canton of Sainte-Mère-l'Eglise (Manche), it took ten days for the American engineering to establish a complete field meant to harbor the 365th Group.

 

On June 27, the first aircrafts took possession of the site, as soon as it was completed, and from the very next day, made their first patrols. Conveys attacks, artillery positions, ammunition and fuel stocks, supply of the essential air cover, collection of information through reconnaissance flights and photoshoots, four to six missions were completed every day. So, on Tuesday, July 18, 1944, eleven P-47 took off to realize a reconnaissance flight in the Falaise-Argentan area. At about 8.45 am, the squadron got involved in an air fight opposing twenty-five German aircrafts and eight American P-51 Mustang from another unit. The fight spread to a large area around Putanges. At 9.00 am, Lieutenant Stanford’s P-47 was hit and quickly lost altitude. The pilot managed to parachute from his burning aircraft, but much too late.
The P-47 crashed in Rouges Terres, in the commune of Rabodanges (Orne), 300m away from the place where the pilot, whose parachute didn’t have time to open, fell. The German quickly curled the sector. Herbert Stanford would be buried on the next day by civilians in the communal cemetery and his grave would be flowered by the children.
For the US Air Force, Lt Stanford was reported missing in action. Listed after Libération by the American administration, the corpse was exhumed to be identified and temporarily buried in the Marigny American cemetery, near Saint-Lô (Manche). In July 1945, Lt Stanford was officially declared killed in action. Upon his family request, he had to be buried at the Saint-James (Manche) American cemetery, where he still rests. The Stanford family didn’ t hear about the cirumstances and the place of his death before December 1998. On June 27, 1999, they went to Rabodanges where a stele was unveiled in memory of lieutenant Herbert Stanford.

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Lakeview Cemetery
Brockport, Monroe County, NEW YORK

Source :  Todd Colegrove

 

SOURCE INFORMATION & SOURCE PHOTOAad.archives.gov - Findagrave.com   -  Abmc.gov  - Findagrave.com  -  Francecrashes39-45.net   - Aerosteles.net -  Ansa.ornemaine.free.fr
PROGRAMMERHenri, Garrett, Clive, Frédéric & Renaud
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