Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
GRAHAM, Fred Empey - Date of
birth
1 August 1920 -
Age
23 - Place of
birth
Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia -
Hometown
Allegany County, Maryland
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-676214 -
Rank
First Lieutenant -
Function
Bombardier -
Unit
612th Bombardment Squadron,
401st Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
19 May 1944 - Place of
death
Professor Peters Platz
Kiel, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| B | 14 | 5 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Samuel A. Graham (father)
Lydia B. (Doutt) Graham (mother)
Gladys E. Graham (sister)
John F. Graham (brother)
Samuel A. Graham Jr. (brother)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-38026 -
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: My Day
Destination: Berlin, Germany
MACR: 4815
More information
Lt. Graham graduated from LaSalle High School.He enlisted in April 194 and first served as an instructor at Pyote Field, Texas until he applied for combat duty.
He completed seven combat missions.
The 401st furnished the lead and high box of the 94th Combat Wing. The original target was Berlin, but either heavy cloud cover or failure to rendezvous with fighter escort (the accounts differ) resulted in bombing the secondary target, the port area of Kiel. Bombing was done by PFF (radar), but through breaks in the clouds bomb bursts were observed in the industrial section along the Kiel Canal. No enemy aircraft were sighted. Flak, while meager, was unusually accurate. The plane was hit and exploded in midair, killing 9 crew members. One crew member was taken prisoner.
The remains of the killed crew members were buried at the Garrison Military Cemetery of Kiel on 25 May 1944.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.newspapers.com - Cumberland Evening Times, The Cumberland News, www.ancestry.com - West Virginia Birth Index, 1930 Census
Photo source: www.findagrave.com, www.newspapers.com - Cumberland Evening Times