Name: Kostal, Richard “Dick” Emile, 2nd LT, USAAF
Local address: Englishtown Road, Morganville, NJ (Matawan High School Class of 1940)
Richard, born June 10, 1922 in Staten Island, was the second of six children of Emile Kostal (1896-1965) and Marguerite Niedeck (1895-1960). Father Emile was a botanist, employed as an agricultural inspector for the USDA. Mother Marguerite attended Cornell University.
Graduating from the Morganville Grammar School in June of 1936, Richard subsequently enrolled in Matawan High School.
Every class has one student who sticks out, one who excels in athletics, academics and class activities – Richard filled this roll for the MHS Class of 1940. He was active in the school’s camera, debate and drama clubs, participating and starring in all the schools plays throughout his years at MHS. He played basketball and was a track star, a member of the 1937 undefeated track and field team. He was elected Senior Class President in 1940.
An aviation enthusiast, he attended the aviation ground school in Red Bank in 1941, learned to fly and owned his own aircraft. Working as a clerk at the local Hanson-Van Winkle-Munning Company factory when the war started, he enlisted in the Air Corps in August of 1942 and was commissioned as an officer pilot on May 24, 1943 at Ellington Field in Houston, Tx. He subsequently was assigned to the 413 Bomber Squadron stationed at Snetterton, England.
On the morning of January 5, 1944, Richard was the co-pilot of B-17 42-3268, the Boots II, when it took of for a bombing mission targeting Bordeaux, France. Experiencing a sudden loss of power upon takeoff, the plane crashed a mile from the base at Low Shrub Farm near the village of Larling. Although the tail gunner survived the crash, he died the following day. All others, including Richard, were killed on impact.
Richard’s body was returned to the United States and is buried at Restland Memorial Park in East Hanover, NJ.
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