Karl W. Stammerjohn (standing 2nd from right), pictured with B-29 Aircrew A-Square-28 on Saipan, circa 1945.

Born Carl William Stammerjohn to Carl Claus and Freda Sophia (Eberhardt) Stammerjohn circa 1918 in Chicago City, Cook County, Illinois.

Enlisted as a Private in the Army Air Corps, completed primary flight training and was commissioned (ASN: O-866595) a Second Lieutenant in the USAAF.

Per 22nd Air Base Headquarters, Special Orders #66, dated 6 March 1944, he graduated with Class #25-44 from Flight Engineer School (FES) at Lowry Field, Colorado and was attached to 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing at Clovis Army Air Base, New Mexico. Subsequently, he underwent B-29 aircraft operational combat crew training and was assigned to Aircrew A-Square-28 at Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas.

In October 1944, he out-processed through Herington Field, Kansas and deployed from Mather Field, California (with re-fueling stops at Hawaii and Kwajalein Atoll) to the central pacific theatre of operations, and was assigned to 20th Air Force, XXI Bomber Command, 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bombardment Group (VH), 870th Bomb Squadron stationed at Isely Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

On 6 June 1945, he flew as an Aircraft Observer aboard a Boeing B-29 Superfortress nicknamed "Dauntless Dotty" (serial #42-24592) tail code: A-Square-1.

Originally assigned to A-SQ-28 (“Lucky Irish”), he had flown 53 combat missions, and was flying back to the States when the “Dauntless Dotty” crashed into the sea after take-off from Bucholz Army Air Field, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands.

According to the three survivors and observers on a rescue naval patrol boat: “after take-off, the plane hit the water easily at first impact, skipped and then struck hard. The plane broke into two parts aft of the wing section, and segments sank in about 30 seconds.”

Carl W Stammerjohn