Individual Details

Sgt. Bernard P. Stell, son of Mrs. George D. Johnson of Route 2, Hamburg, was a graduate of Hamburg High School. He trained in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Drew Field, Florida, and served overseas in England, winning the Air Medal. He was a waist gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress after entering the Armed Forces on March 2, 1944, his twenty-ninth birthday. He was serving as a police officer in Camden when he was inducted. He was listed as missing in action on December 31, 1944, but in January, 1946, the War Department declared him dead. He was married to the former Dorothy Collins of Route 2, Hamburg.
On March 10, 1945, Major E. A. Bradunas of the Army Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D. C., wrote to Mrs. Stell. He said that Sgt. Stell was a waist gunner on a B-17 bomber with 100 Bomb Group which took part in a bombing mission to Hamburg, Germany, on December 31, 1944. The report said that during this mission, about 1 p.m., north of Wilhelmshaven, Germany, the bombers were subjected to enemy anti-aircraft fire, "and your husband's bomber sustained damage." The letter also noted that the aircraft's crew had radioed that it might be necessary for them to make a crash landing, "but it was neither seen nor contacted thereafter. When last seen, Sergeant Stell's Fortress was under control." Major Bradunas noted that as American troops advanced, special units were assigned to help discover the whereabouts of missing personnel. His remains were later located and returned for burial at the Promise Land Cemetery.

Birth	2 Mar 1915
Death	31 Dec 1944	Germany
Burial		Promise Land Cemetery, Hamburg, Ashley County, Arkansas

Spouse

Dorothy Ann Collins (1921 - 2015)

Father

Bernard Pinkney Stell (1886 - 1917)