Quentin Stambaugh

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Quentin Roman Stambaugh was born on 8 February 1924 in York County, Pennsylvania, the fifth of eight children. After graduating from West York High School, he entered military service on 6 April 1943. He trained in Miami, Florida, studied radio operation and mechanics at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and completed aerial gunnery training at Yuma, Arizona.

Stambaugh served as a radio operator and aerial gunner aboard B-25 Mitchell bombers with the 498th Bombardment Squadron, 345th Bombardment Group, known as the “Air Apaches,” within the Fifth Air Force. Operating in the Pacific, he flew 39 combat missions, including dangerous low-level attacks against Japanese shipping and installations.

His final combat mission, on 10 August 1945, nearly cost him his life. During an attack on a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea, bombs dropped by another B-25 exploded close to his aircraft. The resulting blast and surge of seawater threw him against the canopy, injuring his face. Despite bleeding and disorientation, he returned to his gun position as Japanese fighters pursued the damaged bomber. His crew managed to bring the aircraft safely home.

Honorably discharged on 18 December 1945, Stambaugh returned to Pennsylvania, worked at the P. H. Glatfelter paper company, and later served four six-year terms as a York County magistrate. He and his wife, Bertha, raised three children.

On 15 August 2025, aged 101, Stambaugh received the Purple Heart and Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster at a ceremony in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania.