March 29, 1923 - September 3, 1944
Iowa S SGT 11 Air Force
Serial Number 37658790; Enlisted Camp Dodge, January 28, 1943
Gene Strathman was born at Manning March 29, 1923, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Strathman. He attended the local schools and graduated in 1941. He was a member of the championship football and basketball teams at Manning High School.
Gene enlisted in the Army Air Corps and in February, 1943, left for training at Sheppard Field, Texas. He later graduated from gunnery school at Kingman, Arizona, and from radio school at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In December, 1943, he was sent to Salt Lake City, then to Langley Field, Virginia, and spent about a week in Seattle, Washington, before being sent to Anchorage, Alaska, where he was stationed for two months. He was stationed at the Aleutian Islands at the time of his death.
S/Sgt. Strathman, a member of a Liberator bomber crew, was a radio operator on the plane which was enroute from Fort Richardson, Alaska, to Adak, Alaska, when it exploded at 20,000 feet over Mount Illiamna, Alaska, September 3, 1944. Six of the crew managed to parachute to safety, but Gene went down with the plane. His body was recovered later and buried in the army post cemetery at Anchorage, Alaska.
6 of 12 in Army Plane Blast In Alaska Safe After Long Trek
Six of 12 men on a bomber which exploded over the Alaskan wilderness have reached safety after a 150 mile trek.
In making this announcement today, the War Department said the other six died
in the explosion of the B-24 Liberator on September 3 while the plane was
flying from the Alaskan mainland to an Aleutian base.
The survivors: First Lieutenant William J. Grace, photographer, Buffalo, New
York; Second Lieutenant Robert D. Moss, co-pilot, Chicago; Staff Sergeant Oscar
W. Windham, Butler, Georgia; Staff Sergeant Martin Woogen,
New York City; Sergeant Robert W. Smith Lafayette, Indiana; Sergeant Llewellyn G. Thiel, Camden, New Jersey.
Those killed: Second Lieutenant Richard R. Chapman, navigator, St. Paul, Minnesota;
Second Lieutenant Robert Geatchs, pilot, Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma; Second Lieutenant James S. Lawrence, bombardier, Pacific Grove,
California; Technical Sergeant Roy W. Both, a passenger,
Chicago; Staff Sergeant Lyle Gene Strathman, radio operator, Manning, Iowa;
Sergeant John A. Eubanks, assistant engineer, Kennett, Missouri.
The bomber caught fire, apparently as the result of a broken gasoline line and
went out of control 20,000 feet over a 10,000 foot peak, Mount Iliamna. The pilot dived the plane in an attempt to blow out the
fire but was unsuccessful. The crew and the passengers donned their parachutes
but the plane was in a spin so violent that some of the men could not reach escape hatches and those who did were thrown back into the plane.
At this point, the plane exploded and six of the men, blown clear, parachuted safely.
The six survivors located each other in five days after they started their hike
out of the wilderness. On the seventh day, Sergeant Woollen
became ill and the party stopped. Lieutenant Grace and Sergeant Smith went
ahead and finally found a fishing village. An Alaska bush pilot flew in with a
float plane and brought out the survivors.
The Richmond News Leader Richmond, Virginia October 20, 1944
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Manning Monitor article------1943
Gene Strathman Writes He is one of eight who has been selected out of 500 to go out
on flights for news reels and the like for photography. He is greatly enthused with his
work and is now going through a five weeks course in gunnery. |
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Find Iowan's Body In Alaska Crash HEADQUARTERS, 11TH ARMY AIR FORCE, Sept. 23 (Delayed) (U.P.).
The bodies of three officers and two enlisted men were recovered today from the
wreckage of an army Liberator which exploded 20,000 feet in the air over ice-covered
Mount Illiamna, at the base of the Seward peninsula, in Alaska, Sept. 3. 
Gene, a member of a Liberator bomber crew, was a radio operator on the plane which
was enroute from Fort Richardson Alaska to Adak, Alaska when it exploded at 20,000 feet
over Mount Illiamna, Alaska, Sept. 3. Manning Monitor articles ------1944 Gene Strathman Listed As Missing In Action
The plane became on fire 20 thousand feet in the air. All but the pilot put on parachutes
and gathered around the escape hatches. In an effort to snuff out the flames, the pilot
shoved the plane into a nose dive and the big ship went into a spin, whirling the crewmen
from the hatch. About a minute and a half after the flames had broken out, the entire plane
disintegrated in a terrific explosion. The six landed on the mountain side but were
separated by crevices; they located each other by shouting and worked their way down
to a stream and finally after three days they were all together. Grace and Smith hiked 150
miles for help while the others remained with Woogen who was unable to travel after
spending three days on the mountain.
Relatives here think that perhaps the plane was bound for the United States and a
furlough for the crew. G. Strathman In "I Bombed Japan" Club; Eleventh AAF Headquarters S/Sgt. G. Strathman of Manning has recently been issued a membership card in the "I Bombed Japan Club," an organization composed of Eleventh Army Air Force combat personnel who have bombed Japanese positions in their home territory in the Kurile Island chain. Sgt. Strathman obtained membership in the enviable club by virtue of participation in raids over the Kuriles Islands, target of a recently stepped-up aerial drive against the Kuriles from the Aleutians. Sgt. Strathman is a radio operator. Members of the "I Bombed Japan Club" from the Aleutian Theatre have good reason to be proud of their membership as they become eligible by bombing the Kuriles in one of the most hazardous missions of any combat zone, due to the long flight over water so cold life can be sustained only a short time if forced down. These missions are the longest, over-water combat flights (more than 2,000 miles round trip) yet attempted in World War II, and return trips in addition to battle damage when enemy aircraft and anti-aircraft fire are encountered, are further imperiled by diminishing fuel supplies, and the tricky Aleutian weather which can turn home landing bases into stormbound, fog-lashed traps while the mission is away. Sgt. Strathman has served with the Eleventh Army Air Force in the Aleutians three months and has participated in three combat missions. He has received awards including the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon.
Joining the Army Air Forces at Camp Dodge, Iowa, on Feb. 28, 1943, he graduated from
Army Air Forces schools including the radio school at Sioux Falls, So. Dakota, and
Gunnery School at Kingman, Arizona. In civilian life he was employed with the Douglas
Aircraft , Corporation, Long Beach, Calif. Gene Strathman Killed In Liberator Plane Accident Mr. and Mrs. Lee Strathman received word from the government that the body of their son, S/Sgt. L. G. Strathman, had been recovered from the wreckage of an army Liberator which had exploded at 20,000 feet over ice-covered Mount Illiamna, at the base of Seward Peninsula in Alaska, September 3. The message stated that further details would follow. Previously they had been informed that their son was missing. Six of the twelve men in the plane managed to parachute to safety. The bodies of three officers and two enlisted men were located, with one still missing.
Gene, as he is known to his many friends, remained at his post as radio operator and
went down with the burning plane. Gene was born at Manning, Ia., March 29, 1923. He attended the local schools and graduated in 1941. During his high school days he was a member of the Bulldog championship football and basket ball teams. He enlisted in the army air corps and in February, 1943, left Manning for training-at Sheppard Field, Texas. Later he graduated from gunnery school at Kingman, Arizona and from radio school at Sioux Falls, S. D. In December, 1943 he was sent to Salt Lake City, then to Langley Field, Va., and spent about a week in Seattle, Wash., before being sent to Anchorage, Alaska where he was stationed for two months. After that he was sent to the Aleutian Islands where he was stationed at the time of his death. He was due for a leave just before leaving for Alaska. He leave was to start Thursday morning but on Wednesday he was placed with an entirely new crew to act as radio operator, because the operator of that crew was ill and unable to go with his outfit. That is perhaps one reason that friends here thought that the group on the plane might have been returning to the United States for leave.
Gene has never mentioned the number of missions he had been on over enemy territory
but he was a member of the famous, "I Bombed Japan Club." Wherever he was sent he
took it cheerfully, and made the best of things as he found them. He liked flying and felt
that it was the best branch in the service.
CARD OF THANKS War Casualty Shown above is L. G. Strathman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Strathman of Manning, who was killed in the service of his country while serving with the Army Air Corps in Alaska. Gene, a member of a Liberator bomber crew, was a radio operator on the plane which was enroute from Fort Richardson Alaska to Adak, Alaska when it exploded at 20,000 feet over Mount Iliamna, Alaska, Sept. 3. Six of the crew managed to parachute to safety but Gene went down with the plane. His body was recovered later. Manning Flier Died In Plane Explosion WASHINGTON, D. C. (AP) The war department Friday announced Staff Sergeant Lyle G. Strathman of Manning, Ia., radio operator on a B-24 Liberator, had died in the explosion of his plane over the Alaskan wilderness on Sept. 3. He previously had been reported missing. Gene Strathman Buried in Simple Rites Wednesday The body of S. Sgt. Lyle Gene Strathman arrived Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock and was taken to the Manning cemetery immediately where a brief memorial service was conducted by the Rev. Brown Garlock of the Methodist church. Only members of the immediate family were present.
Pallbearers were former classmates, Warren Petersen, Amos Misselhorn, Lyle Eich,
Virtus Hargens, Leonard Frahm and Amos Lohmeier.
At the time of his death in a bomber crash Sept. 3, 1944, he was stationed in the Aleutian
islands. |