Anthony Owen "Tony" Bamberg was the fourth of five children born to Lorenz and Mayme (Kain) Bamberg. He was born on April 14, 1920 in Alton, Iowa. Tony enlisted in the US Army on February 10, 1941 and ultimately transferred to the Air Corps (which would later become the US Air Force)where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on January 14, 1943 after graduating as a pilot. He later received his commission as a First Lieutenant. On December 16, 1944 Tony married Edna Jarrett Ringham in Lincoln, Nebraska shortly before being deployed overseas.



Tony completed pilot training, and ultimately became an Air Leader in the 836th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group (Heavy). This unit was based at Army Air Forces Station 137, near the village of Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. On April 8, 1945, Lt Bamberg flew as Air Leader with the crew of Lt Leon R. Milner, and led the Low Squadron on a mission to bomb the marshaling yards at Hof, Germany. Lt Bamberg and four of his crew mates were killed in action when their aircraft, B-17G #44-8547, was shot down by flak just after bombs away. The aircraft exploded and crashed near Heinersgrün, about 12 kilometers northeast of Hof. Four men survived.



On April 8, 1945, 1st Lt. Bamberg was declared Missing in Action and on May 1, 1946 he was declared to have been Killed in Action by the War Department. He was awarded the Air Medal and the Oak Leaf Cluster posthumously.



The bodies of the five casualties were not recovered until September 24, 1952. They were buried first at the Mausoleum in Frankfurt. The remains could not be individually identified, and after the war were returned to the United States and re-interred in a group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. They are buried in Section 84, Site 308-310. They are not listed in the U.S. War Department's World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel because the remains were found after publication.