Robert Sumner Stearns was born on August 25, 1923 in LaPine, Deschutes County, Oregon.

He had enlisted in the Army Air Forces. Served during World War II. He had the rank of First Lieutenant. Occupation or specialty was Bombardier. Service number was O-761314. Served with 384th Bomber Group, Heavy, 545th Bomber Squadron.

Stearns lost his life on September 28, 1944. He was on the crew of the B-17 #43-37822 "Lead Banana" during a mission to Magdeburg, Germany. After bombs away at the target they collided with another aircraft (42-31222) in the formation. Assigned to 544BS, 384BG, 8AF USAAF. 18 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Madgburg in B-17 43-37822 'Lead Banana' 28-Sep-44; Collided with 42-31222 'Lazy Daisy' coming off target, crashed near Ost Ingersleben. Killed in Action (KIA) MACR 5793.

Robert Sumner Stearns is buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, San Mateo County, California. This is a National American Cemetery administered through the Department of Veteran's Affairs.

COMMENDATIONS

★ Air Medal ★ Purple Heart

Sources:

https://www.findagrave.com/

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/. This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Robert S Stearns