Biography
Year at ISU: 1944 (two year)
Lieutenant William Stump was born on January 21, 1924 to Webb Stump and Eula E. Summers, and was baptized as a Methodist in Denison, Iowa. He had a sister named Barbara and a brother named Richard. He also knew First Lieutenant Robert Allen Johnson, who was also from Denison, Iowa and is listed in the Gold Star Hall.
William liked football and graduated from high school in May 1942. He went to Iowa State the following September.
William entered the service February 25,1943 at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri as a candidate for commission in the Army Air Corps. He graduated from Cadet training at pilot school April 15, 1944 and was commissioned second lieutenant. He then served as a pilot on planes used for the training of bombardiers and navigators and Carlsbad, New Mexico.
He married Lillian Margaret O'Brien on July 7, 1944.
Second Lieutenant William E. Stump was fatally injured when a car he was driving was sideswiped by another car that passed a truck on a highway. The accident happened about 6:30 pm Thursday evening on July 26, 1945 in New Mexico. With him in the car were his bride of two weeks and two other officers. Stump had been thrown through the windshield. Mrs. Stump sustained a broken collarbone and a leg injury, and one of the officers was injured. Stump died at a base hospital about an hour after the crash.
After the car accident, Lieutenant Robert Schaller, one William's friends, accompanied his body back to Denison as a military escort. Funeral services were held at the Methodist Church at Dension. Iowa.
William was buried in the Oakland cemetery, where the American Legion provided military honors.