Lemuel M. Gilbert Jr.

Rank: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces

Serial: 32954133

Unit: 319th Bomber Squadron, 90th Bomber Group, Heavy

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: March 3, 1945

Burial: Missing in Action — Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines

Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart

Staff Sergeant Lemuel Millard Gilbert Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 6, 1917 to Lemuel M. Gilbert and his wife, the former Virginia “Jennie” Stull. He was the third child, coming after sisters Virginia and Mildred. The family was living in Philadelphia when the census was taken in 1920. The elder Gilbert then worked as a riveter in a shipyard. By April of 1930 the family had moved to 23 North Logan Avenue in Audubon, New Jersey. Lemuel M. Gilbert Jr. graduated from Audubon High School in 1935. The 1940 Census shows him living with his parents and sister Mildred at 215 White Horse Pike in Oaklyn, New Jersey. He was then working as a rug salesman.

In 1941 Lemuel M. Gilbert married Jeanne M. Porr in Philadelphia. He was inducted into the United States Army on July 14, 1943. Lemuel M. Gilbert Jr. qualified for flight duty. He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations with the 319th Bomber Squadron, 90th Bomb Group.

Sergeant Gilbert was lost on March 3, 1945 when the plane he was in, a B-24 Liberator bomber Bu. No. 44-43144, went down near Vigan, Luzon Island in the Philippines during a mission to bomb Japanese targets on Formosa (present-day Taiwan). At least one other crew member, Corporal Harry Hall, was killed. Neither Hall’s nor Gilbert’s body were recovered.

Lemuel M. Gilbert Jr. was survived by his wife and one child.