US Army Air Corps Tech Sergeant Daniel Bruce Lockstead was born in Malone, Jackson County, Florida on December 2, 1918, the son of Bryant Christan Lockstead (1882-1948) and Hattie E. Rudd (1889-1932). His father supported his family as a farmer while living in Neal's Landing in Jackson County in 1920 and ten years later at Forks Creek. From 1937-1940, the name Daniel B. Lockstead from Florida appears on the US Army's Coastal Artillery muster stationed at Ft. Sherman in the Panama Canal Zone. He also was at home to marry a Pensacola girl, Miss Catherine Elizabeth Lambeth (1924-1969) on August 3, 1940.
Then came WWII, and everything changed. Next, we find Daniel with the US Army Air Corp assigned to the 850th Bomb Squadron of the 490th Bomb Group. The squadron left the US and flew their B-24 heavy bombers across the Atlantic, arriving on April 12, 1944 at the RAF airfield at Eye, England. Bombing missions quickly followed as the high command prepared for the upcoming landings at Normandy.
The squadron converted to the B-17 bomber in August 1944 and shifted its targets to cities, oil refineries, and factories within Germany. During the Battle of the Bulge, bombing missions were issued forth against enemy ground forces as well. However, fifteen days before the squadron's last mission, Daniel and his crew took off heading for Nuremberg on April 5, 1945. The mission was to hit the city prior to the 7th Army attacking on the 16th of April. However, due to the high, dense clouds Daniel's pilot Lt. Henry J. Martinson couldn't find their formation. He decided to head for the target anyway then changed his mind and turned around and flew back toward England rather than go it alone. He climbed up till he broke through the clouds at 27,000 feet. As he passed through intermittent clouds his nose gunner (Lockstead) suddenly yelled "formation at 12 o'clock!" Martinson abruptly banked left at 70 degrees and at the same time putting her in a steep dive. The force broke the plane into two halves that disintegrated over Kirn, Germany.
Some of the crew were thrown out and were able to land safely with their parachutes. But those who were thrown out having failed to fasten their chutes or could not escape the centrifugal forces were killed. The survivors landed near Kirn and were picked up by American military police. In all, five were killed and four survived.
Back home, Catherine and her son were notified of her husband's death and his subsequent burial in temporary military cemeter. Catherine would remarry to Deorma Marion Ray (1921-1994) in 1950 in Lucenda, Mississippi. She would pass away in Leon County on August 16, 1969 and was buried in the Myrtle Grove Methodist Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida. In the meantime, Lockstead received a final burial in the American Military Cemetery in Lorraine, France where he lies at peace today.
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