US Navy Aviator LTjg Alfred Harris Bell was born in Marshall, Texas on June 19, 1919, the son of Herbert Milton Bell Sr. (1886-1953) and Virginia Thornton Carter (1888-1978). His father supported his family as a clerk for the Texas & Pacific Railway from which he retired. As for Alfred, after high school he enrolled and graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas in addition to receiving his law degree.
He enlisted in the US Navy flight program on January 7, 1942, and received his preliminary flight training at Grand Prairie, Texas at Love (Hensley) Airfield. Afterwards, he was sent to Corpus Christi, Texas for flight training where he earned his wings and Ensign commission on January 8, 1943. Shortly thereafter, he traveled to Austin where he took the exam and was admitted to the bar as an attorney. During this period of time he also met, courted, and married a Pensacola girl attending Corpus Christi Junior College. Rebecca Arlney Berlin (1924-1992) was a Pensacola High School graduate from the class of 1942 and the daughter of Louis Berlin (1895-1966) and Thelma Arlney Jernigan (1901-1927). Her father was the assistant chief of the Pensacola City Water Works Department. Sadly, her mother Thelma died in 1927 when Rebecca was three years old from carbolic acid poisoning .
In the meantime, the young couple were married in Corpus Christi in 1943 and set up housekeeping there. Due to Alfred's skill as a pilot, he was appointed as an instructor in Pensacola for about two years before transferring to Jacksonville, Florida for carrier landing certification. After completion, he left for Squadron VF-51 in the State of Washington where he was joined by Rebecca.
On June 24, 1945, Alfred's squadron leader called Rebecca on the phone and informed her that Alfred had been practicing "glide bombing" against a towed target in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (the border between the U.S. and Canada). During his bombing run, his F6F fighter aircraft crashed in 500' of water and Alfred was killed. He further informed her that his body would not be recovered.
Afterwards, there was little for Rebecca to do under the circumstances but return home and pick up the pieces of her life. Three years later, she met and married Navy Pilot Lt. Robert Lawlor Stuart (1922-1951) in 1948. And again, three years later on April 26, 1951, she received another phone call that Robert had been killed in a plane crash offshore of Key West. His plane had collided with a four engine Cuban airliner at 4,000 feet and exploded. This time her husband's remains were recovered and was the only one of the military personnel aboard that was identified. Again, Rebecca moved on before passing away in Pensacola in 1992.
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