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name
RORER, Frank Harper - Date of
birth
18 December 1920 -
Age
22 - Place of
birth
Aughwick Mills, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania -
Hometown
Mount Union, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
33248466 -
Rank
Technical Sergeant -
Function
Engineer -
Unit
579th Bombardment Squadron,
392nd Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
4 October 1943 - Place of
death
North Sea, 60 miles north of the West-Frisian Islands
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
John H. Rorer (father)
Maude E. (Harper) Rorer (mother)
Verna J. Rorer (sister)
Gladys A. Rorer (sister)
Kathryn M. Rorer (sister)
Carolyn A. Rorer (sister)
Garth G. Rorer (brother)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-7481 -
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: Whiskers
Destination: Frisian Islands
Mission: Diversion
MACR: 892
More information
Frank Rorer graduated from Mount Union High School in 1938 and attended college. He worked in the dairy business with L.M. Hutelson and with the Eshelman Company in Lancaster.T/Sgt Rorer enlisted on 23 July 1942 in Altoona, Pennsylvania and went from New Cumberland to a training school in Atlantic City, New Jersey. From there he went to Nebraska from which he graduated around Christmas time 1943.
The mission's objective was to deconcentrate German defenses, primarily fighter units, and draw them away from the main bomber routes across the continent.
The aircraft was last observed with at least one and possibly both wings torn off after a collision with an enemy fighter which had been badly damaged. The collision was followed by a violent explosion at about 10,000 feet of. No parachutes were observed as the aircraft disappeared into the clouds at 1026 hours.
It is also believed that, according to eyewitness statements, during the incident the aircraft also collided with another B-24 (42-7471) as it fell out of formation.
The entire crew of eleven men was killed. Nine are remembered at the Walls of the Missing at Margraten. Michael Kvorjak and Carey Bratcher are remembered at the Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge Cemetery.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, www.B24.net, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census, www.newspaperarchive.com - Huntingdon Daily News
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.newspaperarchive.com - Huntingdon Daily News