1942 — June 3, explosion, gasoline cleaning guns, fire, Stockton Army Air Corps, CA — 11
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-30-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–11 NFPA. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life. 2nd Quarter, 1942.” Quarterly, 36/1, p. 78.
–11 Oakland Tribune. “2 Bay Men Die, Oaklander Hurt in Stickton Base Fire.” 6-5-1942, p. 19.
Narrative Information
National Fire Protection Association: “June 3, 1942, Stockton, Calif. An explosion said to have been due to the use of gasoline for cleaning guns, occurred at an Army air station, taking the lives of ten soldiers and one civilian fireman.” (NFPA. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life. 2nd Quarter, 1942.” Quarterly, 36/1, p. 78.)
June 4, Oakland Tribune: “Ten men were killed and 10 others were injured critically last night in an unexplained explosion at the Stockton Army Air Corps Advanced Flying School.
“Highway patrolmen raced from the field to Bay area blood banks an hour afterward to get plasma as the injured men hovered between life and death. Calls went out to all Stockton hospitals for serum, blood plasma and other medical supplies. Doctors and nurses from Stockton hospitals responded to an emergency call from the Stockton Field Hospital. One special consignment of blood plasma was rushed 85 miles from San Francisco, and another came from Berkeley. The plasma was sent by car with a State Highway Patrol escort as far as Dublin, where it was transferred to another car from Stockton.
“The injured were treated at the field hospital under direction of Lieut. Col. John L. Gallagher, post surgeon.
“All but one of the dead were soldiers, and Mr. H. Bouchard, chief of the fire department was the only civilian seriously injured. Five civilian firemen were injured though not seriously….
“…the cause of the explosion [was not] announced…Lieut. Col. [name unclear] commanding officer of the field, said that the explosion occurred in a frame building, but he declined to divulge what the building housed. The explosion came at 11:30 p.,, and could be heard in nearby Stockton.
“The blasted building was one in which enlisted men were working, and the fire spread rapidly, filling the structure with flames. The blaze was extinguished by midnight.
“Four of the Army victims burned to death shortly after the explosion, and before the fire was extinguished. Five additional soldiers and a civilian died shortly after midnight. One report said that the men killed and injured all were trapped in the blaze that swept through the building immediately after the explosion.
“Tom Sousa, of Stockton, the only civilian killed, died after he responded to the alarm. The rest of the casualties were enlisted men….
“None of the men involved was a cadet.
“The Stockton field is used for advanced training of Air Force fliers.” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Stockton Air Field Blast Kills 10 Men.” 6-4-1942, p. 1.)
June 5, Oakland Tribune: “Two Bay area Army men were burned to death and an Oakland corporal seriously injured in the explosion and fire which partly destroyed a large building at the Stockton Army Air Base, officials at the field revealed today. The dead are
Private Donald E. Ensign, 20, of 114 Carmel Avenue, El Cerrito; and
Private Porter H. Whitiker Jr., 20 of 797 Vienna Street, San Francisco….
“Others listed as dead by Lieutenant Colonel Floyd H. Tull, commanding officer, were:
Tom Sousa, Stockton, civilian fireman;
Corp. Lloyd Wisby, 23, Winlock, Wash.;
Serg. Robert A. Smith, 21, Davis, Calif.;
Pvt. [unclear] R. Schnmarcher, 25, Antelope, Neb.;
Pvt. Dwight P. Schearer, 23, Merriman, Neb.;
Pvt. Louis Bruesen [unclear], Stockton;
Pvt. Kenneth A. Zelers, Hartlett, Kas.;
Pvt. Charles G. Massingill, Wilson, N.C.; and
Pvt. LeRoy Freas, 24, Conshohocken, Pa….”
(Oakland Tribune. “2 Bay Men Die, Oaklander Hurt in Stickton Base Fire.” 6-5-1942, p. 19.)
Sources
National Fire Protection Association. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life. Second Quarter, 1942.” Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2, July 1942, p. 78.
Oakland Tribune. “2 Bay Men Die, Oaklander Hurt in Stickton Base Fire.” 6-5-1942, p. 19. Accessed 6-30-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-jun-05-1942-p-19/
Oakland Tribune, CA. “Stockton Air Field Blast Kills 10 Men.” 6-4-1942, p. 1. Accessed 6-30-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-jun-04-1942-p-1/