Historical Treasure Hunt

Siskiyou County Museum’s Exhibit of the Hull Brothers…

If you like history, cemeteries are really interesting places,” explains Bruce Stiny, who retired as a museum curator for California State Parks and now works as a volunteer curator for the Siskiyou County Museum. “When I retired in 2010 and moved up here, I was walking through the Dunsmuir cemetery, and I saw this headstone with these two brothers’ names on it: John and Robert Hull. They were both in the US Army Air Corps, which was a forerunner of the Air Force, and they were killed five weeks apart in World War II. I thought whatever the story was, it would be most likely be very sad but interesting, and the mystery of it just stuck in the back of my mind. Then, about a year and a half ago, I brought up the idea of an exhibit to Jill [Livingston] at the museum. I said maybe it was like a ‘Saving Private Ryan’ kind of deal, and Jill agreed it sounded interesting. That was the start of us getting the exhibit together.”

Soon after the meeting with Livingston, Stiny found himself on an information treasure hunt. “I started doing research and immediately found out how they died. They were both on bomber crews in England. John was a Bombardier and Robert was a pilot. On November 26, 1944, John’s B-17 went missing, last spotted over the North Sea returning from a bombing raid. He and his crew were reported as missing in action. And then, about five weeks later, Robert’s B-24 was shot up by a German fighter, and he and his entire crew were killed after he attempted an emergency crash land onto a snow-covered field.”

Stiny’s research also confirmed that the brothers had been raised in Dunsmuir. “I realized they must have gone to Dunsmuir High School, so I called up the librarian and was happy to discover that they had yearbooks going back over 100 years,” recalls Stiny. These time capsules allowed two fascinating portraits to emerge. “John was the older brother, born in 1917. Robert was born in 1919. Their father was a railroad engineer. John was a star football player and was the only unanimous selection to the 1935 Siskiyous All-County

team. He went on to ultimately get a degree in engineering from UC Berkeley and married a woman before volunteering for the Army Air Corps. Robert, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be as much of an athlete. He did the glee club, school plays and worked at the newspaper. He eventually got married and followed his brother into the Air Force.” Seeing all the pictures of these two young men filled with dreams and potential really hit home for Stiny. “It made them come alive as real people.”

Stiny was also able to access a number of archival newspaper articles about them from local press at the time. “Every time something happened to one of these brothers, there was an article about it,” says Stiny. In fact, when John was first reported missing in action, Stiny notes that his brother Robert even penned a letter to soften the blow, obviously unaware that a similarly tragic fate soon awaited him. “I learned that Robert used to work for the Dunsmuir newspaper, so he wrote to the editor and said, ‘You’ve probably heard by now that my brother’s missing. But that doesn’t always mean that he’s dead. He could be in a prisoner-of-war camp.’” The optimism proved short-lived after John’s body washed ashore, and Robert’s death was eventually confirmed. “Their father had bad health, most likely what we would call COPD, and he died soon after finding out about his sons. His obituary basically hints at the fact that he lost the will to live,” says Stiny.

For the museum, the exhibit provides an opportunity for visitors to learn about Siskiyou County’s rich veteran history. Livingston explains, “The Hull Brothers display is the first of many planned rotating displays featuring Siskiyou County veterans from all eras, with another one or two coming in 2025. And while the story of the Hulls may certainly not be unique, in a way, that’s what makes it more important. Somehow it brings home the reality of the losses suffered by families all over the country, including this suddenly much smaller family in this small northern California town.”

In fact, the Dunsmuir community was hit exceptionally hard by World War II. “There’s 17 young men who attended Dunsmuir High School who were killed in World War II, which I think is a lot. There’s actually a plaque at the high school honoring them,” notes Stiny, adding that the mission to keep telling these stories is personal. “My dad was a World War II veteran, and I’ve always been interested in it. By being able to tell stories like that of the Hull brothers, I feel like it’s honoring all veterans, especially the ones who gave their lives.” •

Siskiyou County Museum
910 S. Main St., Yreka • (530) 842-3836
www.co.siskiyou.ca.us/museum
A presentation on the Hull Brothers will also be held at the Dunsmuir Library
on Saturday, November 9. Call
(530) 235-2035 for more information.