Gazlay Family History
 

Family HistoryFamily History - Arvin Carl Hildebrand


Key:1.“+” before a child’s name indicates the child has their own entry in the next generation.
 2.“born xxxx” indicates the child is under 18 years of age so the birth date is not shown.
This family history features Arvin Carl Hildebrand and his immediate family.



First Generation
1. Arvin Carl Hildebrand,1 born 24 September 1924 in Bellevue, Huron County, Ohio, the son of Carl Adolph Hildebrand and Maria Elizabeth Gazlay;1, 2, 3 died 2 November 1944 in Italy.1 Arvin married, 19 December 1943 in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, Gene Isabel Kingman4 (born 16 January 1927, the daughter of Dr. C. A. Kingman and Ruth Wademia Angier4). Arvin is buried in Bellevue Cemetery, Bellevue, Huron County, Ohio.1

Arvin was a 1st Lieutenant and a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He was the copilot on aircraft #44-6399, a B-17 from the 20th Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group (Heavy) when it took off on the morning of 2 November 1944 from its home base at Amendola, Italy. The plane was on a solo Navigation Instrument Training Mission, scheduled to fly to Rome, Naples, Tranto, and back to base. The plane never returned from its mission. Weather conditions included high winds and icing conditions on the aircraft’s route and altitude, and other aircraft crews indicated the aircraft could have been blown off course.2, 5


  1. Find a Grave (website). Bellevue Cemetery, Bellevue, Huron County, Ohio; Lieutenant Arvin Carl Hildebrand, b. 24 Sep. 1924; d. 2 Nov. 1944. Notes indicate he was born in Bellevue, Huron County, Ohio; died in Italy, buried in Military Cemetery In Italy, rank of Lieutenant; parent: Maria Elizabeth Gazlay Hildebrand.
  2. Email from Mary Fetter to Lee Gazlay, various dates in April and June 2013. The emails include as attachments 18 pages of hand-written family history notes containing the names, birth, marriage and death dates and places, primarily centered around the ancestors and descendants of Carl Adolph Hildebrand (1886-1965) and his wife Maria Elizabeth Gazlay (1883-1973). The pages include surnames Gazlay, Hildebrand, Rhoades, Morgan, Zehner, and Fetter, among many other surnames. The information in these pages matches the same information found in other (primarily public) records, so is considered highly reliable.
  3. U.S. Federal Census, 1930, Ohio, Huron County, Bellevue, Enumeration District 39-10, Sheet No. 5A, family of Carl A. Hildebrand (44, Ohio, agent, insurance, age 24 at first marriage), wife Maria E. Hildebrand (46, Ohio, age 26 at first marriage), daughter Helen N. Hildebrand (17, Ohio), daughter Elizabeth S. (13, Ohio), son Arvin C. Hildebrand (5 9/12, Ohio).
  4. Oshkosh Daily Northwester, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, available at newspaperarchive.com; 27 August 1955, article announcing the farewell sermon of Rev. M. David Fetter, which also mentions that he will return to Oshkosh on 31 October to be married to Miss Shirley Gumz.
  5. The Second was the First, the life and times of the men of the Second Bombardment Group (Heavy) during World War II, by Charles W. Richards; Printed by Maverick Publications, Inc., Bend, Oregon, 1999. Page 402. Available at Second Bombardment Association (website: www.2ndbombgroup.org).