Staub, Fred L. 

FRED LEO STAUB

2nd LIEUTENANT
U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS

Fred Leo Staub was born on May 30, 1917 in Decatur, Indiana. His parents were Sylvester and Rosa Staub and he had two brothers, Bernard and Louie. Fred also had a sister named Helen, he was the youngest of the four. They lived together at 107 North Fifth St. and attended Decatur Catholic High School (now Saint Joseph Catholic School) and graduated in 1935. After high school, Fred became a skilled meat cutter working around the Decatur area. 

Fred enlisted into the Army Air Corps on October 24, 1941 and attended flight training at Keesler Field, Mississippi, MacDill Field, Florida, Coves, New Mexico. Blythe, California. Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Topeka Army Air Base, Topeka, Kansas. He also attended bombardier training at San Angelo Army Air Field, Texas. Upon completion of his training, Lieutenant Staub was assigned as a bombardier with the the 458th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. The 458th Bombardment group was an Eighth Air Force B-24 Liberator unit stationed in England. Assigned to RAF Horsham St. Faith during World War II, the group flew 240 missions losing 47 total aircraft in combat. The 458th Bombardment groups’ first action was on February 24th and 25th as a diversionary unit that led German fighters away from high value targets. 

The groups’ first bombing mission was on March 2, 1944, and afterward attacked German oil refineries and air fields. After D-Day, the group aided the Allied military movement through France by bombing bridges and German supply lines. It is on one of these missions that 2nd Lt. Fred L. Staub disappeared. His remains were never recovered. 

Fred was alerted that he would be the pilot navigator for a different aircraft, the B25 "Daisey Mae" flown by Lt. Lincoln Larson on July 7th, 1944. The crew was supposed to bomb Bergin’s Synthetic Oil works, near Leipzig, Germany. Thirty minutes into the flight, however, one of the engines went out. This forced them to fly at a lower altitude which made them susceptible to enemy fire. According to surviving aircrew reports,  Lt. Larson reported that he left formation with battle damage 25 minutes before the target. He asked for fighter escort as he attempted to bring the crippled aircraft back to England. A direct hit from flak in the nose however, caused the aircraft to crash into the shipping channel of the River Ems seven miles west of Emden Germany. Six of the eleven crew members survived the crash and were picked up as Prisoners of War by German patrol boats.

Lt. Staub's remains were never recovered. He is memorialized on the Wall of the Missing, Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten. His name is also commemorated on his parents marker at St. Mary's Cemetery, Decatur Indiana.

For his service and sacrifice, Lt. Staub earned the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Purple Heart, and the Air Medal for meritorious service in aerial flight. 

Information collected and researched by Garrett Schieferstein, 2014 and Caden Staub 2018.

SOURCES

"Fred L. Staub." American Battle Monuments Comission. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.http://www.abmc.gov/search-abmc-burials-and-memorializations/detail/WWII_32239#.VH9iT9q9KSM

"Fred L. Staub." Ancient Faces. N.p., 1999. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.http://www.ancientfaces.com/person/fred-l-staub/158446130.

"Fred L. Staub." Find a Grave. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=68500192.

"Fred Staub." Bill Biegel WWII Researcher. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

"Fred Leo Staub : World War II Casualty from Indiana." HonorStates.org, 10 10

     2015, www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=40797.

Indiana Historical Bureau, comp. Gold Star Honor Roll: Adams County. Bloomington: Indiana War History Commission, 1949. Print. Vol. 1 of Indiana in World War II.

"Larson Crew - Assigned 754th Squadron - May 9, 1944." 458th Bombardment Group

      (H), www.458bg.com/crewlarson.htm.

Photos by: Staub, Tom, compiler. Fred Staub. Tom Staub, 2015.

Staub, Lois. Personal Interview, 2nd December, 2018

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