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Name: Harold Goodman "Shoey" Shoemaker
Harold Shoemaker
Country: United States
Rank: First Lieutenant
Service: United States Air Service
Units: 74 (RAF)
17th Aero (USAS)
Victories: 5
Born: 01 September 1892
Place of Birth: Bridgeton, New Jersey, USA
Died: 23 October 1918  
Place of Death: Germany
Cemetery: Bomy, France
 
 
The son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Elmer Shoemaker of Bridgeton, New Jersey, Harold Goodman Shoemaker answered the call for volunteers in the summer of 1917. On 14 July 1917, he and several other candidates were sent to Toronto, Canada for training with the Royal Flying Corps. To gain combat experience, he was attached to the Royal Air Force, joining 74 Squadron on 3 July 1918. After scoring five victories as an S.E.5a pilot, he was reassigned to the 17th Aero Squadron on 29 August 1918. Less than two months later, Shoemaker and another American pilot went down over German lines when their Sopwith Camels collided. Reported missing on 5 October 1918, the International Red Cross later reported that Shoemaker died in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. He was buried in the cemetery at Bony.
Bridgeton Evening News, Bridgeton, New Jersey, Friday, 13 July 1917, page 8
Bridgeton Evening News, Bridgeton, New Jersey, Monday, 26 August 1918, page 1
Bridgeton Evening News, Bridgeton, New Jersey, Friday, 11 October 1918, page 1
Bridgeton Evening News, Bridgeton, New Jersey, Tuesday, 19 November 1918, page 1
 
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent Location
1 30 Jul 1918 1210 74 S.E.5a (E1389) Rumpler C (DES) 1 Cassell-Ypres
2 16 Aug 1918 1250 74 S.E.5a (E4685) Rumpler C (DES) 2 E of Kemmel Hill
3 19 Aug 1918 2010 74 S.E.5a DFW C (DES) 3 Ploegsteert
4 23 Aug 1918 1925 74 S.E.5a Fokker D.VII (OOC) Passchendaele
5 25 Aug 1918 1845 74 S.E.5a Fokker D.VII (DES) Warneton
1 Shared with Capt Ira Jones, Lt George Gauld
2 Shared with Lt Frederick Gordon
3 Shared with Lt George Hicks
 
Books
American Aces of World War 1
by Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey (Illustrator) / Paperback / Osprey Publishing (September 25, 2001)
Over the Front
by Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey / Hardcover / Grub Street the Basement (May 1992)
 
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