Stephen J. Bonner, Jr.

Stephen Jacob Bonner Jr. (January 16, 1918 – September 15, 2021) was an American flying ace in the 23rd Fighter Group during World War II.

Early life Bonner was born on 1918 in Guymon, Oklahoma, to Stephen Jacob, Sr. and Nellie Belle Bonner. He graduated from Panhandle College in Goodwell, Oklahoma, before attending the University of Illinois. He developed an interest in flying after a pilot at a local airport would often take him up for an aerial flight.

Military career After joining the U.S. Army Reserve and later the Aviation Cadet Program, Bonner was commissioned as a second lieutenant and awarded his pilot wings at Eagle Pass Army Airfield in Texas on February 16, 1943.

He scored his second and third aerial victories on September 10, 1943, and December 12, 1943. He scored his fourth aerial victory on January 11, 1944, and on early 1944, the 76th FS converted to P-51B Mustang. On May 12, 1944, during an interception of the IJAAF bombing raid over Suichwan Airfield in Jiangxi Province, Bonner shot down a Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" that was strafing the airfield, crediting him with his fifth aerial victory and earning the title of flying ace.

During the war, he was credited in the destruction of five enemy aircraft in aerial combat (four in P-40 and one in P-51) and was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Later life Bonner and his wife Joy had three children; two sons and one daughter, and numerous grand and great-grandchildren. In September 2005, Bonner was among the American WWII veterans invited to participate in the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Chinese victory during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He and 48 other American veterans were given the title 'Honorary Citizen' of the Chinese city of Kunming.

In 2015, he along with other flying aces received the Congressional Gold Medal, in recognition of "their heroic military service and defense of the country's freedom throughout the history of aviation warfare."

Bonner died on September 15, 2021, at the age of 103. He was buried at a family plot in Elmhurst Cemetery in Guymon, Oklahoma.