Son of Mrs. Gladys L. Beirdneau who resided in Los Angeles, California.
Ralph served as a Sergeant & Radio Operator on OA-10A #44-34050, 1551st Army Air Force Base Unit, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.
He resided in Los Angeles County, California prior to the war.
He enlisted in the Army on January 15, 1943 in Los Angeles, California. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a Electrician and also as Single, without dependents.
OA-10A #44-34050, with a crew of 4 and 8 passengers, took off from Mokerang, Los Negros, Admiralty Islands on a radio range testing mission & and also testing of a new "Direction Finding Evaluation" piece of equipment that had recently been install at the base unit. Seven (7) of the Passengers were members of the Army Airways Communications System Group's team (AACS).
They were contacted by radio 4 times. During the 4th radio contact they were told to standby as the base unit had an emergency broadcast they needed to handle first. They were never seen or heard from again and are assumed to have run out of fuel and crashed in the sea.
Ralph was declared "Missing In Action" on this mission during the war.
Service # 39554075
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Crew who perished on OA-10A #44-34050:
Bauer, Earnest J ~ Corp, Engineer, NJ
Beirdneau, Ralph E ~ Sgt, Radio Operator, CA
Drew, Paul W ~ 1st Lt, Pilot, NY
Paige, Harry D, Jr ~ Corp, Radio Operator, MA
Passengers who perished on OA-10A #44-34050:
Crouch, Paul C ~ 1st Lt, AACS, TX
Eisele, Robert P ~ S/Sgt, AACS, OH
Flicker, Robert L ~ 2nd Lt, AACS, NY
Greco, Ralph J ~ 2nd Lt, AACS, NY
Johnson, Gordon A ~ 1st Lt, AACS, MN
Spangler, Carl A ~ Corp, AACS, PA
Tittler, Milton M ~ 2nd Lt, AACS, NY
Walker, Clyde A ~ Sgt, OR
( Bio & Crew Report by: Russ Pickett )
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Flowers
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