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Personal info

Full name
GROGAN, Frank Elmer Jr
Date of birth
10 September 1918
Age
26
Place of birth
Portsmouth, Virginia
Hometown
Reidsville, Rockingham County, North Carolina

Military service

Service number
14124065
Rank
Technical Sergeant
Function
Engineer
Unit
712th Bombardment Squadron,
448th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
25 March 1945
Place of death
Schneverdingen, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
D 6 50

Immediate family

Members
Frank E. Grogan Sr. (father)
Laurie S. (Hamill) Grogan (mother)
John H. Grogan (brother)
Katherine K. Grogan (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-50646
Data
Type: B-24
Destination: Buchen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the oil depot
MACR: 13548

More information

Frank Grogan graduated from Reidsville High School and attended the University of North Carolina for two years.

He volunteered for the Army of the United States at Fort Jackson, South Carolina on 24 July 1942.

The airplane was attacked by ME-262's. It went in a tight spin before the wing tanks exploded and tored the wings off. The fuselage crashed on a shoe factory in Schneverdingen, Germany.

Three crew members survived and were taken prisoner. Nine men were killed. they were initially buried at the cemetery of Schneverdingen.

T/Sgt. Frank Grogan didn’t bail out. He was killed in the airplane and his remains were last seen in the wreckage.

His brother, S/Sgt John H. Grogan, served with the 723rd Bomber Squadron, 450th Bomber Group and was killed on 23 February 1944. He is buried at Lorraine American Cemetery.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com - WWII Draft Card Young Men - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil / Family Trees, www.fold3.com - MACR

Photo source: FOHF, www.ancestry.com – University of North Carolina School Yearbook 1940, www.findagrave.com - Jimmy Lawson