Bert Stiles

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Bert Stiles was an American author of short stories killed in World War II.

Born in Denver, Colorado, on August 30, 1920, he was the son of an electrician, Bert Stiles, Senior, and a music teacher, Elizabeth Huddleston Stiles. He attended Denver's South High School and worked summers as a junior forest ranger in Estes Park, both of which became sources of material for his short stories.

After graduation from high school in 1938 he entered Colorado College, with a pronounced interest in writing both stories and poetry. He became a feature writer for the campus newspaper, The Tiger, expressing pacifist views in vogue at the time, and in June 1941, isolated himself in his fraternity house and produced twenty-seven short stories.

Stiles mailed samples of his prose to Ruth and Max Aley, literary agents in New York City, who expressed an interest in seeing more. Stiles left college to hitchhike to New York, was stopped twice by police and sent home twice, but eventually reached New York and delivered his stories in person. The Aleys employed him as a handyman and provided him living space on their farm in Connecticut in order to mentor him in his writing. Stiles wrote ten hours a day throughout the summer of 1941 and his diligence was rewarded when his first story was accepted in September by the Saturday Evening Post, which eventually published the "The Ranger" series of stories based on his experiences in Estes Park. He also sold stories to Liberty and The American magazines.

Stiles enlisted in the U. S. Army in January 1943, became an aviation cadet, and was commissioned a second lieutenant, Air Corps, in November. He won pilot wings and was assigned to a B-17 Flying Fortress replacement crew sent to the Eighth Air Force in March, 1944. Assigned to the 401st Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group at Bassingbourn, England, he began flying missions with the crew of 2d Lt. Sam Newton on April 19, 1944, with their first to Kassel, Germany. Thereafter the crew flew an average of two to three missions per week, usually on consecutive days. This pattern continued through May as the 91st attacked both strategic targets in Germany, V-1 launch sites, and targets in France in preparation for Operation Overlord. Their first mission against Berlin occurred May 7.

Stiles continued to write, both highly personalized pieces for the London Daily Mail, articles for Yank and Air Force Magazine, and the manuscript for a book. He eventually flew twenty missions with Sam Newton's crew, and his manuscript was a journal-style memoir of his experiences with them. In mid-June, 1944, he was separated from Newton's crew and out of combat for a month, and when he resumed flying, he finished his 35-mission combat tour for the 91st Bomb Group with a different crew.

Stiles refused an opportunity to return to the United States as a flight instructor and volunteered for a second tour with the Eighth, requesting an assignment in fighters. He completed conversion training and was assigned as a pilot with the 505th Fighter Squadron, 339th Fighter Group, a P-51 unit stationed at Fowlmere, England, about five miles distant from his previous base at Bassingbourn.

On November 26, 1944, on the 16th mission of his second tour, Stiles engaged in combat with a Luftwaffe FW-190 while flying a bomber escort mission to Hanover, Germany. He shot down the German fighter and was credited with the kill, but apparently became disoriented when the dogfight descended close to the ground. His P-51 impacted the ground almost immediately, killing him. Stiles was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, and the Air Medal and five clusters for his combined combat service. Stiles is interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupré, Liège, Belgium.

His mother commemorated his memory by having his book published in 1947 in England (Lindsay Drummond Ltd.), with its first U.S. publication in 1952 (W.W. Norton & Company). Entitled Serenade to the Big Bird, the book achieved cult status among aviation enthusiasts for its honest depictions of bomber combat and also won favorable literary reviews for its spare, Hemingway-style prose and its anti-war sensitivity. It has been re-issued periodically, the most recent in 1998.

[edit] References

• Cooper, Robert F., Serenade to the Blue Lady: The Story of Bert Stiles, Cypress House (1993). ISBN 1-879384-21-3
• Minnich, Mike, "Serenade: The Story of Lieutenant Bert Stiles," Wings, April 1989 (Volume 19, No. 2)