2LT Francis Ildefonso Cervantes
859th BS, 15th Special Group (Provisional),
15th AF, Brindisi, Italy.
Killed in Action 9 February, 1945
near Jablanac, Yugoslavia
He was the first-born child of Mexican immigrants and had two younger sisters. His dream was to become an aeronautical engineer. He was a sophomore at Tulane University when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He wanted to immediately join the service but his parents pleaded with him to stay in school. He reluctantly agreed to postpone his enlistment, but only until the completion of the school year. He eventually enlisted in the USAAF on June 12, 1942.
He met Paula Andrade while stationed in San Antonio, Texas. He was assigned to Navigator School and she was serving as a volunteer hostess at the downtown USO. They fell in love and were married on Christmas Eve in the base chapel on Brook Army Air Force Base. She followed him throughout the West as he underwent flight training as a B-24 Liberator crew member. They last saw each other in Wichita, Kansas just before he flew off to England in the spring of 1944. Their aircraft was named "Back to the Sack" and featured a painting of Donald Duck in a nightshirt and nightcap, holding a candle and yawning.
Upon arrival in England, this crew was asked to volunteer for the elite 492nd Bombardment Group (Provisional), the now famous Carpetbaggers. This was a unit under the command of the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), not the USAAF. The OSS was the forerunner of today's CIA. All crews were volunteers, and were under strict orders to maintain secrecy about their missions, under penalty of death. Their mission was to fly into the occupied countries and drop spies and supplies to the resistance fighters. They would also, when possible, land behind enemy lines and extract downed Allied airmen. Most of their missions were flown at night, alone, and at low level to avoid German radar. Casualty rates, as expected, were very high. Some crews simply disappeared, probably crashing at sea. They were under strict orders to maintain radio silence, even when in trouble. If captured and identified, they were treated as spies and executed by the Nazis.
After the liberation of France in December, 1944, the crew again volunteered to fly similar missions in Eastern Europe, this time out of Italy. On February 9, 1945, while on a mission to drop supplies to the partisans fighting the Nazis in Yugoslavia, their aircraft exploded in mid-air as they crossed the Adriatic coast over present day Croatia. There were no survivors and the cause of the explosion was never determined. Their remains were initially interred in the American Cemetery in Belgrade, and eventually re-interred in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis, Missouri. The individual remains could not be identified and they were buried in a group as comrades-in-arms.
His son Frank was born three weeks before his death.
859th BS, 15th Special Group (Provisional),
15th AF, Brindisi, Italy.
Killed in Action 9 February, 1945
near Jablanac, Yugoslavia
He was the first-born child of Mexican immigrants and had two younger sisters. His dream was to become an aeronautical engineer. He was a sophomore at Tulane University when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He wanted to immediately join the service but his parents pleaded with him to stay in school. He reluctantly agreed to postpone his enlistment, but only until the completion of the school year. He eventually enlisted in the USAAF on June 12, 1942.
He met Paula Andrade while stationed in San Antonio, Texas. He was assigned to Navigator School and she was serving as a volunteer hostess at the downtown USO. They fell in love and were married on Christmas Eve in the base chapel on Brook Army Air Force Base. She followed him throughout the West as he underwent flight training as a B-24 Liberator crew member. They last saw each other in Wichita, Kansas just before he flew off to England in the spring of 1944. Their aircraft was named "Back to the Sack" and featured a painting of Donald Duck in a nightshirt and nightcap, holding a candle and yawning.
Upon arrival in England, this crew was asked to volunteer for the elite 492nd Bombardment Group (Provisional), the now famous Carpetbaggers. This was a unit under the command of the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), not the USAAF. The OSS was the forerunner of today's CIA. All crews were volunteers, and were under strict orders to maintain secrecy about their missions, under penalty of death. Their mission was to fly into the occupied countries and drop spies and supplies to the resistance fighters. They would also, when possible, land behind enemy lines and extract downed Allied airmen. Most of their missions were flown at night, alone, and at low level to avoid German radar. Casualty rates, as expected, were very high. Some crews simply disappeared, probably crashing at sea. They were under strict orders to maintain radio silence, even when in trouble. If captured and identified, they were treated as spies and executed by the Nazis.
After the liberation of France in December, 1944, the crew again volunteered to fly similar missions in Eastern Europe, this time out of Italy. On February 9, 1945, while on a mission to drop supplies to the partisans fighting the Nazis in Yugoslavia, their aircraft exploded in mid-air as they crossed the Adriatic coast over present day Croatia. There were no survivors and the cause of the explosion was never determined. Their remains were initially interred in the American Cemetery in Belgrade, and eventually re-interred in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis, Missouri. The individual remains could not be identified and they were buried in a group as comrades-in-arms.
His son Frank was born three weeks before his death.
2LT Francis Ildefonso Cervantes
859th BS, 15th Special Group (Provisional),
15th AF, Brindisi, Italy.
Killed in Action 9 February, 1945
near Jablanac, Yugoslavia
He was the first-born child of Mexican immigrants and had two younger sisters. His dream was to become an aeronautical engineer. He was a sophomore at Tulane University when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He wanted to immediately join the service but his parents pleaded with him to stay in school. He reluctantly agreed to postpone his enlistment, but only until the completion of the school year. He eventually enlisted in the USAAF on June 12, 1942.
He met Paula Andrade while stationed in San Antonio, Texas. He was assigned to Navigator School and she was serving as a volunteer hostess at the downtown USO. They fell in love and were married on Christmas Eve in the base chapel on Brook Army Air Force Base. She followed him throughout the West as he underwent flight training as a B-24 Liberator crew member. They last saw each other in Wichita, Kansas just before he flew off to England in the spring of 1944. Their aircraft was named "Back to the Sack" and featured a painting of Donald Duck in a nightshirt and nightcap, holding a candle and yawning.
Upon arrival in England, this crew was asked to volunteer for the elite 492nd Bombardment Group (Provisional), the now famous Carpetbaggers. This was a unit under the command of the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), not the USAAF. The OSS was the forerunner of today's CIA. All crews were volunteers, and were under strict orders to maintain secrecy about their missions, under penalty of death. Their mission was to fly into the occupied countries and drop spies and supplies to the resistance fighters. They would also, when possible, land behind enemy lines and extract downed Allied airmen. Most of their missions were flown at night, alone, and at low level to avoid German radar. Casualty rates, as expected, were very high. Some crews simply disappeared, probably crashing at sea. They were under strict orders to maintain radio silence, even when in trouble. If captured and identified, they were treated as spies and executed by the Nazis.
After the liberation of France in December, 1944, the crew again volunteered to fly similar missions in Eastern Europe, this time out of Italy. On February 9, 1945, while on a mission to drop supplies to the partisans fighting the Nazis in Yugoslavia, their aircraft exploded in mid-air as they crossed the Adriatic coast over present day Croatia. There were no survivors and the cause of the explosion was never determined. Their remains were initially interred in the American Cemetery in Belgrade, and eventually re-interred in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis, Missouri. The individual remains could not be identified and they were buried in a group as comrades-in-arms.
His son Frank was born three weeks before his death.
859th BS, 15th Special Group (Provisional),
15th AF, Brindisi, Italy.
Killed in Action 9 February, 1945
near Jablanac, Yugoslavia
He was the first-born child of Mexican immigrants and had two younger sisters. His dream was to become an aeronautical engineer. He was a sophomore at Tulane University when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He wanted to immediately join the service but his parents pleaded with him to stay in school. He reluctantly agreed to postpone his enlistment, but only until the completion of the school year. He eventually enlisted in the USAAF on June 12, 1942.
He met Paula Andrade while stationed in San Antonio, Texas. He was assigned to Navigator School and she was serving as a volunteer hostess at the downtown USO. They fell in love and were married on Christmas Eve in the base chapel on Brook Army Air Force Base. She followed him throughout the West as he underwent flight training as a B-24 Liberator crew member. They last saw each other in Wichita, Kansas just before he flew off to England in the spring of 1944. Their aircraft was named "Back to the Sack" and featured a painting of Donald Duck in a nightshirt and nightcap, holding a candle and yawning.
Upon arrival in England, this crew was asked to volunteer for the elite 492nd Bombardment Group (Provisional), the now famous Carpetbaggers. This was a unit under the command of the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), not the USAAF. The OSS was the forerunner of today's CIA. All crews were volunteers, and were under strict orders to maintain secrecy about their missions, under penalty of death. Their mission was to fly into the occupied countries and drop spies and supplies to the resistance fighters. They would also, when possible, land behind enemy lines and extract downed Allied airmen. Most of their missions were flown at night, alone, and at low level to avoid German radar. Casualty rates, as expected, were very high. Some crews simply disappeared, probably crashing at sea. They were under strict orders to maintain radio silence, even when in trouble. If captured and identified, they were treated as spies and executed by the Nazis.
After the liberation of France in December, 1944, the crew again volunteered to fly similar missions in Eastern Europe, this time out of Italy. On February 9, 1945, while on a mission to drop supplies to the partisans fighting the Nazis in Yugoslavia, their aircraft exploded in mid-air as they crossed the Adriatic coast over present day Croatia. There were no survivors and the cause of the explosion was never determined. Their remains were initially interred in the American Cemetery in Belgrade, and eventually re-interred in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis, Missouri. The individual remains could not be identified and they were buried in a group as comrades-in-arms.
His son Frank was born three weeks before his death.
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