Louis S. Gimbel, Jr. – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Air Corps

LIEUTENANT COLONEL L. S. GIMBEL DIES IN PLANE CRASH

New Yorker and 5 Other Army Fliers Killed Near Houlton Maine

WASHINGTON, May 24, 1941 – The War Department announced tonight an Army plane crashed on a “routine” flight near Houlton, Maine, today, killing all five officers and a sergeant.

The War Department said the men were killed instantly when their plane crashed into a hillside near the Houlton air base at 11:35 A.M. (Eastern War Time).  The plane did not burn and all the bodies were recovered and taken to Houlton.

The dead:

  • Gimbel, Lieutenant Colonel Louis S.
  • Wright, Lieutenant Colonel C. A.
  • Fransiscus, First Lieutenant J. D.
  • Herback, First Lieutenant
  • Wilkinson, Second Lieutenant E. R.
  • An unidentified non-commissioned officer.

Colonel Gimbel, who resided with his wife and two children at 163 East Seventy-eighth Street, New York City, was once an executive of the Sacks Fifth Avenue and Gimbel stores.  A graduate of Yale, he entered the Atlantic Ferry Service about six months ago and later transferred to the Army Air Corps.

He was a son of the late Louis S. GImbel and a cousin of Bernard F. Gimbel, President of Gimbel Brothers, Inc.  Notice of his death was received last night by his uncle, Ellis A. Gimbel, head of the Philadelphia Store.


GIMBEL FUNERAL PLANS
Military Rites For Air Officer In Arlington On Thursday

May 26, 1942

A military service will be held at 1 P.M. Thursday at the Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C., for Lieutenant Colonel Louis S. Gimbel, Jr., United States Army Air Corps, who was killed on Sunday morning with four other officers and a sergeant when their plane crashed near Houlton, Maine.

A son of Mrs. Julia Gimbel of 912 Fifth Avenue, and the late Louis S. Gimbel, one of the founders of Gimbel Brothers Department Store, Colonel Gimbel leaves besides his mother, a widow, Elinor Gimbel, and three sons, Nicholas, Tom and Stinor Gimbel.  In recent months he had been stationed in Washington.

Mrs. Gimbeland the children havebeen living at Applebrook Farm, Asbury Park, New Jersey.


GIMBEL, LOUIS S

  • LT COLONEL AIR CORPS US ARMY
  • DATE OF DEATH: 05/24/1942
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 8  SITE 5227
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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