1st Sgt. Gottlieb George Knoll was born in Bellwood, Illinois, on September 26, 1915, to George Knoll and Marie J. Ott-Knoll and had two sisters and three brothers. He was called “Gal” by his family and friends. His family resided at 204 South 4th Avenue, Maywood, Illinois. Gal graduated from Saint Paul Lutheran School and Proviso Township High School in 1933. It is not known what he did for a living, but it is known that he joined the US Army on January 20, 1940, at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and issued the serial number 6 731 140.
After enlisting in the army, he appears to have volunteered to join the Army Air Corps. Information on his training is lacking and it is not known if he was trained to be a member of a ground crew or if he was a member of a plane crew. It is known that he trained at Great Bend Army Airfield, Kansas. It is not known where else he trained. He was sent to Smoky Hill Air Field, Salina, Kansas, where the 468th Bomb Squadron (Very Heavy) was formed. Since the B-29s were not ready the crews trained on B-17s and B-26 Marauders. It is known he was a member of the 794th Bomb Squadron. The ground crews had to work outside – in the cold and snow during the winter – since the planes were too large for the hangers. During this time, he rose in rank to First Sergeant.
The 468th was one of the four initial operational groups of the 58th Bombardment Wing, which was the first operational B-29 wing sent into combat overseas leaving the US in March and April 1944. Once in India, the 468th became part of the 20th Air Force arriving at Kharagpur Airfield on April 13th. The unit’s first mission against the Japanese was on June 5, 1944, when the B-29s bombed the railyards in Bangkok, Thailand. To bomb Japan the 468th was staged at the Pengshan Airfield in Southwestern China. The 468th also bombed targets in China, Burma, Indonesia, and Formosa. The 468th’s first bombing of Japan, on June 15, 1944, was against the Imperial Iron & Steel Works, Yawata, Japan, which was the first time B-29s were used against Japan homeland since the Doolittle Raid in 1942.
Gal’s military records indicated that he died from his injuries in a truck accident on October 18, 1944. The records do not give any specific information on how the accident happened, and no information has been found on when his parents learned of his death. What is known was that Gal was buried at the United States Military Cemetery, Kalaikunda, India, in Plot 2, Row A, Grave 26, with a cross marking his grave. When the cemetery was rearranged his grave was redesignated as Plot 1, Row H, Grave 3.
In a letter dated June 18, 1947, his father was told where Gal was buried and the location of his grave in the cemetery. He was also informed this was a temporary grave that he would be receiving another letter providing him with his options for Gal’s final burial. The letter, dated January 19, 1948, arrived and asked his father to fill-out and return an enclosed form indicating where he wanted Gal buried. The form was received by the Office of the Quartermaster General on January 28th, and indicated Gal’s remains should be returned to Illinois for burial.
Gal’s remains were exhumed, casketed, and sent to a port, but it is not known where his casket was sent. It was placed on the USAT Dalton Victory November 20, 1948, and the ship sailed the same day. The ship arrived at Fort Mason in the San Francisco Port of Entry on December 5, 1948, By train with a military escort, his casket arrived at the Quartermaster Corps Distribution Center #8, Chicago, on December 14th.
In a military hearse, with an escort, Gal’s casket was taken to the Paul Senne Funeral Home, and arrived on January 13, 1949. 1st/Sgt. Gottieb Knoll was buried at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.
