The Cyclopædia of American biography.

BERGER

BERGER

Rowing, Princeton, at the present day (1923).
He also holds membership with the Germantown Cricket Club, the Wilmington Country
Club, and the North East Harbor Gulf Club.
Mr. Thompson married, 14 April, 1891, Mary
Wilson, daughter of General James Harrison
Wilson, of Stockford, Delaware, a graduate
of West Point and a Major-General of the
Civil and Spanish Wars, now retired.
The couple have five children: Mary Thompson Reath, the wife of Thomas Reath, Jr., and
mother of two boys, Thomas Reath, 3rd, and
Henry T. Reath; Katherine Thompson, who
was for eighteen months engaged in war work
with the Red Cross in Brittany, the Argonne,
and the Hoover Relief during the year 1917
and 1918 in France, serving with great efficiency; Henry Burling Thompson, Jr., who
served with distinction with the American
Ambulance Corps in the French Army; James
H. W. Thompson, and Elinor Thompson. The
war record of -I. B. Thompson, Jr., is conspicuous. He was wounded at Chemin des
Dames in October, 1917, and received the
Army Citation and the Croix de Guerre for
bravery. On 1 January, 1918, he enlisted in
the American Army, entering as a private, and
being promoted to second lieutenant in the
Aviation Corps, and Pursuit Pilot. Lieutenant Thompson was graduated A.B. at Princeton University in 1920.
BERGER, Frederick Gardiner Bart, naval
aviator, b. in New Castle, Pennsylvania, 10
November, 1893; d. at Cape May, 29 April,
1919, son of George Leonard Reis Bart and
Rebecca Niccolls (Gardiner) Berger. His
great-grandfather, Samuel Gardiner, came
from Ireland to Pennsylvania, early in the 19th
Century. His
father w a s
one of the
pioneers i n
the steel and
iron industry
in the Shen-! ( P e n n s y 1 -~"ango Valley,
vania and rei the formation
w/he e, woof the United
spring oStates Steel
Co r p o r ation. Lieutenant Berger atr o Side Academy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and was prepared for
college at St. Paul's School, Concord, New
Hampshire, 1907-1912. In the fall of 1912 he
entered the academic department of Yale
University, class of 1916. After the completion of his freshman year, however, he transferred to the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale
where he would have 'been graduated in the
spring of 1917 had his career not been interrupted by the outbreak of the European War.
Early in April, 1917, Lieutenant Berger volunteered for service in the New York Naval

Militia. Shortly after the entrance of America
into hostilities, on 16 April, 1917, his unit became a part of the aerial section of the National Naval Volunteers in which he was enrolled as aero mechanic on board the U. S. S.
"Granite State." After a course of instruction,
he was transferred to Bay Shore, Long Island,
New York, where he assisted in the construction of the Naval Aviation Station. He continued at this station throughout the summer
and fall of 1917 where he completed his training as a naval aviator, and, on 12 December,
1917, was discharged as chief machinist, was
enrolled in the Naval Reserve Force with the
rank of ensign, and was designated as naval
aviator for duty involving flying in aircraft,
including dirigibles, balloons and airplanes. On
15 December, 1917, he was detached from the
Naval Air Station at Long Island and was
ordered to the Naval Air Station at Key West,
Florida, where he arrived 21 December, 1917.
At Key West, he acted as instructor of flying
in naval seaplane and flying boats, in which
work he was associated with Lieutenant Commander Read, who later commanded and flew
the naval seaplane N. C. 4 in its "hop" across
the Atlantic. On 12 April, 1918, he was detached from the Key West Station and was
ordered to the Naval Air Station at Miami,
Florida, for duty with the Marine Aviation
Force, and, on 24 June, 1918, he was ordered
to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida.
He continued his flying and instruction at
both of these stations, preparatory to service
abroad, and, on 27 July, 1918, he was ordered
to Paris for duty with the U. S. Naval Aviation Forces in France. He sailed from New
York on 24 August, 1918, and, upon his arrival
in France, was, on 4 September, 1918, stationed
at the Naval Air Station at Pauillac, and
later, on 15 September, 1918, was transferred
to Montchic, Lacanau, Gironde. While at these
air stations, he was trained for night bombing
and was actively engaged in the delivery of
air and seaplanes and flying boats. At this
period he made and held the record for the
endurance test in sustained flight. On 1 October, 1918, he was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant in the Naval Reserve Flying Corps,
Class 5, G. S., U. S. N. R. F. On 6 November,
1918, he was transferred to the Naval Air
Station at Brest. When President Wilson
first sailed for France, on the U. S. S. George
Washington, the duty of greeting him at sea
was assigned to Lieutenant Berger, who was
the first American to meet him and escorted
his ship into Brest. He was detached from
duty at Brest on 19 January, 1919, and returned
to America in February, 1919. He served continuously at Bay Shore, Long Island, until 27
February, 1919, when he was transferred to
duty at the Naval Air Station at Cape May,
New Jersey. He was second in command of
the Cape May Station, where he supervised
and instructed in a series of "submarine spotting" manoeuvers. It was while acting as
observer and completing these manoeuvers that
his flying boat fell and he met his death on
29 April, 1919. While a student at Yale University Lieutenant Berger was a member of the
Cloister Club and of the Book and Snake
Society of the Sheffield Scientific School.

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