Frank served as a Private First Class, 513th Parachute Infantry, 17th Airborne Division, U.S. Army during World War II.

He resided in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania prior to the war.

Frank was "Killed In Action" when the C-46D #44-77595 transport plane he was a passenger on was shot down by German Artillery during the war, as part of Operation Varsity.

Service ID: 13178085.

The reason he is named on a group headstone is because when soldier's were killed in close proximity to each other they were unable, at that time, to identify them separately and interred their remains together in one grave.

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C-46D #44-77595, which was assigned to the 47th Squadron, 313rd Troop Carrier Group, was transporting 34 paratroopers from Achiet, France with a destination of Wesel, Germany on a drop mission. The C-46 was hit by German Artillery and ended up crashing in Germany.

All 4 flight crew members and 24 paratroopers were killed. 11 paratroopers were able to parachute out before the crash.

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Those killed on C-46D #44-77595:

Badger, Herschel C ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, MO

Davis, Floyd C ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, GA

Dowda, Thomas B ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, FL

Fowler, Harold D ~ Pvt, Paratrooper, AL

Ginter, Louis B ~ Tec/4, Paratrooper, OH

Guarino, Joseph P ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, OH

Higuera, Louis G ~ Pvt, Paratrooper, AZ

Hirzel, George W ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, PA

Johnson, Dick D ~ Corp, Paratrooper, IA

Lombardi, Joseph A ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, MA

Lowinger, Milton ~ S/Sgt, Paratrooper, NY

Lundine, Homer W ~ T/Sgt, Flight Engineer, KS

Monk, Wesley J ~ T/Sgt, Paratrooper, AL

Monteleone, Gasper J ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, NY

Oliva, Frank J ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, PA

Patton, Paul J ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, TX

Payne, James E ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, NC

Phillips, Moorehead ~ 1st Lt, Pilot, PA

Power, Harold M ~ S/Sgt, Radio Operator, MS

Reft, John ~ T/5, Paratrooper, PA

Reinwald, Anthony J ~ Sgt, Paratrooper, IL

Rogers, Ronald D ~ Sgt, Paratrooper, AR

Rowe, William T Pfc, Paratrooper, TX

Sanford, William B ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, NJ

Simmons, William C ~ 1st Lt, Co-Pilot, NC

Skipper, Gilbert W ~ S/Sgt, Paratrooper, MD

Szwak, Raymond A ~ Pfc, Paratrooper, NJ

Thomas, John R ~ S/Sgt, Paratrooper, NY

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The 11 who parachuted out of this C-46 include:

Brelsford, Arthur B ~ Pvt

Chase, Homer B ~ T/4

Choate, Orell D ~ Pfc

Curran, Robert G ~ Pvt

Di Silvio, Armond ~ 1st Lt

Garcia, Tobias ~ Sgt

Jackson, D ~ Pvt

Malone, Bartholomew P ~ Pvt

Maturn, W R ~ T/4

Nelson, Donald L ~ Pfc

Tomlison, Lynn R ~ 1st Lt

Bio, listing, & Crew Report by:

Russell S. "Russ" Pickett