Joseph Edward Gunder was born on 12 February 1920, in Marion, Ohio. His parents are Madison H. & Marie A. (Stuber) Gunder. Joseph E. Gunder graduated from St. Mary Parochial High School, Class of 1938. While at St. Mary, he was a basketball and football star for the school. He went on to attend the University of Dayton, where he majored in financing, for two years. He returned to Marion and was employed at the Erie Railroad Company. He then transferred to Erie Railroad Company in Kent, Ohio, as a brakeman. It was in Kent, Ohio that he enlisted into the Army Air Corps in November of 1941.
Gunder’s stations included; Patterson Field, Ohio; Gunter Field, Montgomery and Maxwell Field, Alabama; Lockwick Aviation Military Academy, Avon Park, Florida; Bainbridge, Georgia; Spence Field, Georgia.
Joseph E. Gunder received his wings and was commissioned, a Second Lieutenant, on 11 December 1942, at Spence Field, Georgia. While at in flight school, he was described as having unusual proficiency in advanced training school, and was given special instruction in piloting the Airacobra P-39, in which he logged 50 flying hours in the P-39. He was then assigned to Elgin Field, Florida for gunnery practice.
Lt. Gunder was assigned to Hamilton Field, San Francisco, California prior to reporting for overseas assignment in the Southwest Pacific area. He was likely serving with 70th Fighter Squadron “White Knights”, 18th Fighter Group, Thirteenth Air Force. Overseas he served in Guadalcanal, Bougainville, New Guinea, New Georgia, and the Bismark Archipelago battles. He was last serving as an Operations officer. He had flown in the P-39, P-40 and P-38 fighters.
While Gunder was flying as flight leader of an escort mission, he was part of the 13th Army Air Force’s (AAF), record breaking mission on 16 September 1944. The 13th AAF records the event in part,
“The P-38 Lightning mission, believed to have been the longest fighter-combat escort in history, was made from an advance New Guinea base. A rescue plane was escorted to the strong Jap base at Kendari in southern Celebes in conjunction with a B-24 Liberator strike. Eight fighters of the White Knights unit made the trip which totaled some 1,500 miles in slightly less than eight hours flying time. Though the White Knights stayed in the Kendari area for 40 minutes, not a Jap fighter rose to intercept them.”
At some point Gunder was promoted to Captain. Some of his other actions included the following: in October 1943, Gunder destroyed a Japanese Dive Bomber; 8 November 1943, while on an aerial patrol, he shot down two Japanese dive bombers, over Bougainvillea, Solomon Islands; He had mentioned in a Christmas card to his mother that he shot down two other enemy fighters.
For the 8 November action, he received the 1st Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded on 6 March 1944, as a First Lieutenant.
On 22 January 1945, Captain Joseph E. Gunder was shot down and killed in action in Luzon, Philippines. The details of the action are not known to the author, but it is known that he earned his second Distinguished Flying Cross for this action and appears to have been posthumously promoted to the rank of Major.
It also appears that his remains were temporarily buried in the Philippines, until June of 1948. His remains returned to this country aboard the U. S. A. T. Sergeant Morris E. Crain, via San Francisco. He was then laid to rest in the Saint Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Marion, Ohio.
Major Joseph E. Gunder is remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Veterans Memorial Park, in Marion, Ohio; on the west wall of the Marion County Courthouse; and on the World War II Veterans Memorial Wall, at the Marion Cemetery.
Honoring Marion Ohio Veterans 