Gustave Dziengowski

TECHNICAL SERGEANT GUSTAVE DZIENGOWSKI had lived at 1476 Louis Street, in the mostly Polish neighborhood anchored by St. Joseph's Catholic Church. As a child he had graduated from the Bonsall School, and Camden High School, where he starred in football and basketball. He also attended Camden Commercial College. He worked for Public Service Gas and Electric for 12 years before being inducted into the Army on April 7, 1942.

Gustave Dziengowski qualified for the Army Air Corps. He had graduated the Army Air Force radio and gunnery courses, and was probably due to be promoted to Technical Sergeant. Another report has him as a Staff Sergeant. The War Department casualty report of 1946 lists him as a private, however. Nine months after his enlistment, while on a test flight to White City KS, his plane caught fire and crashed. He was 32 years of age when he died, on January 6th, 1943.

1-6-43F. White City, Kansas. At 1735 CWT, a Consolidated B-24D suffered a catastrophic structural failure of the tail section and crashed three miles west of White City, Kansas, killing 11 passengers and crew. Navigator-rated passenger 2Lt. Frank Maleckas parachuted to safety and was uninjured. The B-24 took off from the Army Air Base at Topeka, Kansas, at 1710 on an instrument training flight to Pueblo, Colorado. The airplane climbed to an altitude of 5,500 feet when it began picking up ice in the overcast. A crewmember in the rear of the airplane notified the pilots that the tail section was picking up a thick coating of ice. The Pilot acknowledged the warning and said, "Do not worry." The airplane began losing altitude rapidly. The pilot ordered the crew and passengers to put on parachutes and to stand by to bail out. Lt. Maleckas stood by in the nose section and after noticing that the airplane was beginning to shudder violently he pulled the emergency hatch lever and bailed out. He stated that the pilot gave no order to abandon ship. Investigation of the wreckage indicated that the port horizontal stabilizer, elevator, vertical fin and rudder had separated from the airplane in one piece. The B-24 then dove straight ahead into the ground and exploded violently into flames. The severed port tail section was found over one-half mile from the scene of the main wreckage. Lt. Maleckas parachuted safely to the ground and ran to the wreckage immediately, but was kept away by exploding bombs, bullets and flares. The occupants had all been killed instantly. Investigators speculated that the structural failure was caused by an excessive amount of ice stressing the tail section and causing it to fail. Killed in the crash were: 1Lt. Robert Clyne, pilot; 2Lt. Norman A. Kendell, co-pilot; 2Lt. Joseph P. Hudder, navigator; 2Lt. Clifford A. Smallwood, bombardier; SSgt. Vernon A. Larson, engineer; SSgt. Thomas P. Merlino, radio operator; 2Lt. Alden A. Alleman, pilot-rated passenger; F/O James G. Masters, pilot-rated passenger; 2Lt. John Sedor, Jr., bombardier-rated passenger; SSgt.Leonard F.MacNabb, engineer-rated passenger; SSgt. Gustav Dzingoski, radio operator-rated passenger.

Staff Sergeant Dzingoski was survived by his mother, Mrs. Stella Wanat, a brother John, and two sisters, Wanda and Mary, and his fiancee, Miss Violet Boos, of Gloucester City NJ.

CAMDEN COURIER-POST * JANUARY 8, 1943

CAMDEN MAN KILLED WITH 10 IN AIR CRASH
SGT. DZINGOSKI DIES IN KANSAS; WAS ATHLETE AT HIGH SCHOOL

          Sgt. Gus Dzingoski, 31, of 1476 Louis Street, was one of 11 army men killed when a flying fortress crashed at White City, Kansas, while returning to its home at Topeka.
           Sgt. Dzingoski’s mother, Mrs. Stella Dzingoski, a widow, was informed of the tragedy by the commanding officer of the Topeka base shortly after the crash occurred at 5:30 PM Wednesday. The body will be sent home with a military escort. Funeral arrangements await its arrival, which will not be before Monday, the family was told.
           Sgt. Dzingoski, a former basketball and baseball star at Camden High School, left his job at Public Service, where he had been employed 12 years, to enter the service April 7, 1942. He joined the Army air forces and became a radio operator, training successively at Scott Field IL, Miami FL, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and had just been assigned to a bomber squadron at Topeka.
           The plane was returning from a routine training flight when it crashed. No details were furnished the Dzingoski family, except that 11 of the 12 men making up the crew perished, the other parachuting to safety.
            Sgt. Dzingoski had not been home since joining the service. His last letter, received Monday, told of being transferred to Topeka, which he described as his permanent base after many moves through the country. He described the country there as beautiful, but said he hoped to get home soon for a visit.
            He was the son of the late Constanty Dzingoski, who conducted a store at Louis and Whitman Streets 18 years prior to his death three and one-half years ago.
            Surviving besides the mother, are a brother, John, a merchant of 1643 Woodlynne Avenue, Woodlynne, and two sisters, Mrs. James Monahan, 16 Ridgeway Avenue, Oaklyn, and Mrs. A Schnitzius, 1476 Louis Street, Camden NJ.
            The sergeant was engaged and planned to be married when the war ended to Miss Violet Boos. of Market Street, Gloucester.

COURIER-POST, CAMDEN N.J., MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1943

FUNERAL TOMORROW FOR SGT. DZINGOSKI
Full Military Honors Will Be Paid; Legion To Hold Ritual

Sgt. Gus Dzingoski, killed last Wednesday when a Flying Fortress crashed near White City, Kansas, will be given full military honors tomorrow morning.
The flying sergeant was the son of the late Constanty Dzingoski and Mrs. Stella Dzingoski, of 1476 Louis Street. His is the first casualty of this war from St. Joseph’s Catholic church, Tenth and Mechanic streets.
The body arrived yesterday under full military escort and was met by Funeral Director Stanley Ciechanowski. The American Legion funeral ritual will be conducted in the mother’s home at 8:30 tonight. It will be led by Paul Donahue, Camden County Legion commander. Assisting will be Bolek Palsielski, commander of Laskowski-Wojtkowiak Post 74, American Legion.

Scouts to Pay Tribute

The funeral will be conducted in the home at 8:30 AM tomorrow followed by Solemn High Mass of Requiem in St. Joseph’s church at 9:30 AM. Burial will be held in St. Joseph’s cemetery, Chews Landing NJ. Legionnaires and delegates from the St. Joseph’s American Red Cross Unit, Boy Scouts from the church’s Troop No. 25, and the parish Girl Scout troop will participate.
Sgt. Dzingoski, a former basketball and baseball star at Camden High School, quit the job held with Public Service for 12 years to enlist in the Army Air Corps on April 7, 1942. He trained as a radio operator at Scott Field IL, Miami FL, and in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, and had been assigned to a Topeka KS base but three days before the fatal crash.

Gustave Dzingoski