Messages of DEATH, Word of Valiant Soldiers, Sailors “Missing in Action,” Brought Sadness to Families Here
Earl Frederick Bonjour, seaman second class in the Navy, was reported missing on Sept. 1, less than a month after visiting at the home of his father-in-law, L. K. Stalkfleet, 1119 Logan street, on a furlough. Bonjour had been recalled to destroyer duty on Aug. 13.
Source: Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune, Annual Edition Wednesday, December 30, 1942
Number From Area Included On Missing Lists; Safety of Some Subsequently Reported.
“Missing in action.”
Official notifications from the war and navy departments, bearing this saddening information about a loved one, have come to a number of homes in this area since the Pearl Harbor attack back in the waning days of 1941.
For some relatives, this opening sentence was followed by happier information in the course of time. For others, where no further details have been received, only the hope will come, revealing the safety of a loved one.
For, in a number of cases, some of the men who were reported as missing in action were later reported to have rejoined their combat units, or rescued by comrades. Others, subsequent messages related, were being held prisoners by enemy countries and have communicated with relatives.
Others, about whom their commanders have had no additional information to relate, have, after an interval, been declared officially to have been killed in action.
And, for the parents and relatives of some, the suspense of waiting has continued month after month, as they clung to the hope that no news may be good news and that some day, soon if possible, a message may clear, reporting that the absent member is alive and well.
From official lists issued at intervals, augmented in instances by information obtained from relatives and friends, the following information relative to those from this area who have been reported missing in action was obtained:
Earl Frederick Bonjour, 28, seaman 2/c of the U.S. Navy, was on the Destroyer Inghram, when reported missing in action in a message received by his father-in-law, L. K. Stalkfleet, 1119 Logan street.
A second message indicated that 11 survivors of the crew of the sunken vessel of which he was a member, had been picked up but that Seaman Bonjour was not among them.
His wife is the former Irma Stalkfleet, and they have a son, Earl Lee.
Source: Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune, December 30, 1943
LIST OF MISSING IN ACTION GREW IN 1944
Among those from this area who have been listed as missing in action in official dispatches to next of kin, and upon casualty lists of the armed services, are:
EARL FREDERICK BONJOUR—Son-in-law of Lee K. Stalkfleet. Earl Frederick Bonjour, seaman 2/c of the U. S. Navy and assigned to the Destroyer Inghram, was listed as missing in action on Sept. 1, 1942.
Source: Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune, Friday, December 29, 1944
Earl F. Bonjour died Aug. 23, 1943 and is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing, East Coast Memorial, New York City, NY.
Source: ancestry.com
