GATES, Claire, Lt. 1922-1944

GATES, HESALROAD

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 9/10/2011 at 16:02:52

#1:

Lieutenant Claire E. Gates

Second Lt. Claire Gates and
17 Others Die in Crash
of Two Bombers.

Greene, Iowa — Military funeral services for Second Lt. Claire E. Gates, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Galen Gates of Route 1, Greene, who was killed with 17 other army airmen in the crash of two Pueblo base bombers Tuesday near Model, Colorado, will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the high school auditorium at Marble Rock, Rev. H. F. Mercer, pastor of the Methodist churches here and at Marble Rock, officiating.

Burial will be in the Marble Rock cemetery.

Lieutenant Gates was a bombardier.

He was born March 6, 1922, on his parents' farm, four miles north of Greene. He was graduated from Marble Rock High School in 1939 and was inducted in February, 1943.

He received basic training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, followed by five months' training at Michigan State College at East Lansing, Michigan. He went from there to San Antonio, Texas, where he was classified as bombardier.

Lieutenant Gates received flight training at Ellington field, Houston, Texas, then attended gunnery school at Kingman, Arizona. He was awarded his silver bombardier's wings after completing training in advanced high level bombing and dead reckoning at Carlsbad, New Mexico.

The body was to arrive Friday at the Watterson Funeral Home in Greene.

[Waterloo Courier, Friday, August 25, 1944]

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#2:

Large Crowd Attended Funeral Service
For Lieutenant Claire E. Gates Sunday

The Marble Rock high school auditorium was filled to near capacity Sunday afternoon for the funeral service of Lieutenant Claire Gates, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Galen Gates.

Lieutenant Gates, who was stationed at the Pueblo air base, Pueblo, Colorado, was killed when the wings of two bombers, one in which he was a crew member, locked in mid-air. He was one of 17 flyers to lose their lives in the crash between Model and Trinidad, Colorado, on August 21.

A fellow officer, Lieutenant Howard Gunderson, instructor pilot, who accompanied the body to Greene as an army escort, said that only one of the crew was able to bail out and was uninjured. The bombers crashed one half mile apart.

Claire had received his commission in June, and following a 20 day leave, which he sent with his parents, he then reported to the army air base at Pueblo for overseas training. He was assigned to section C, replacement training unit, and he had completed the first half of his training. At the time of the accident, Claire was on a high-altitude formation flight, according to the escort officer.

Five of the casket bearers were classmates from the 1939 class of the Marble Rock High School: Roy Maxon, seaman second class, who had been home on a leave, Dean Edwards, Merlin Merrick, Robert Nash and Lloyd Watters, and Max Barnett, a close friend.

The funeral services were in the charge of the Reverend H. F. Mercer, pastor of the Greene and Marble Rock Methodist churches, assisted by the Reverend George C. Foster, pastor of the Bethel Baptist church of Marble Rock.

The American Legion posts of Greene and Marble Rock conducted military services at Hillside Cemetery, and the Greene American Legion attended the service as a group. The flag that came with Claire's casket was presented to his parents.

Claire is survived by his parents and his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Lizzie Hesalroad of Greene.

[Iowa Recorder, Greene, Iowa, Wednesday, August 30, 1944]

Floyd Obituaries maintained by LaVern Velau.
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