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Personal info

Full name
SORRELLS, John Frank
Date of birth
18 April 1923
Age
21
Place of birth
Geneva County, Alabama
Hometown
Geneva County, Alabama

Military service

Service number
14170070
Rank
Sergeant
Function
Right Waist Gunner
Unit
579th Bombardment Squadron,
392nd Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
29 April 1944
Place of death
In a forest on the outkirts of Dinklage, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 33 45

Immediate family

Members
Dalton A. Sorrells (father)
Mennie Sorrells (mother)
Aubrey Sorrells (brother)
Orma Sorrells (brother)
Mertis Sorrells (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-7510
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: El Lobo
Destination: Berlin, Germany
MACR: 4461

More information

Sgt John F. Sorrells worked with his father on the family farm.

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 16 October 1942 at Napier Field, Dothan, Alabama. He was sent overseas in January, 1944.

No report exists in the MACR from in-flight eyewitness accounts on the loss of this aircraft. Other records indicated this aircrew did fly this mission with formations of the 392nd's sister group, The 44th, To the Berlin target complex. German eyewitnesses report hearing the sound of gunfire in the clouds and then seeing this B-24 descend through the clouds. Neither right engine was working and thick black smoke was coming from the forward part of the fuselage. The plane impacted in a forest on the outskirts of Dinklage, Germany.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, www.B24.net, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census, WWII Draft Card, Enlistment Record

Photo source: Mireille Goedhart, www.b24.net,