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Personal info

Full name
HERMANCE, Alan Edgar
Date of birth
28 November 1917
Age
25
Place of birth
Monroe County, New York
Hometown
Monroe County, New York

Military service

Service number
O-435683
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
326th Bombardment Squadron,
92nd Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
26 July 1943
Place of death
Near Norderney, North Sea

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Frank S. Hermance (father)
Flora E. (Waug) Hermance (mother)
Wilbur F. Hermance (brother)
Marian E. Hermance (sister)
Sarah J. Hermance (sister)
Jane L. Hermance (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-29709
Data
Type B-17F
Nickname: Yo Brother
Destination: Hannover, Germany
MACR: 190

More information

Lt Alan E. Hermance enlisted in the Air Corps in the Spring of 1941. He graduated from Webster High School in 1934 and from Cornell University in 1939. He was employed by the Real Silk Co. in New England States and New Jersey after graduation from Cornell. Later he returned to the area as a representative for the New York Life Insurance Co. He enlisted in the Air Corps in the spring of 1941.

Last seen to hit water about 10 minutes off island of Nordernay with one engine on fire, tail chewed up. On 26 July 1943 when it failed to return due to a mid-air collision with a German fighter and crashed in the North Sea. All ten of the crewman were KIA. 1st Lt. Hermance had flown 485.35 hours prior to this incident.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com Wheeler-Rogers Family Tree, http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org - The Webster herald

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Wheeler-Rogers Family Tree, http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org - The Webster Herald