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Personal info

Full name
MARTIN, Francis Patrick
Date of birth
25 March 1919
Age
26
Place of birth
Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
33457416
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
D Company,
1st Battalion,
157th Infantry Regiment,
45th Infantry Division
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
17 January 1946
Place of death
Reipertswiller, France

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Epinal
Tablets of the Missing
* This soldier has been accounted for. A rosette has been placed next to his name.

Immediate family

Members
John J. Martin (father)
Margaret G. (Jacoby) Martin (mother)

More information

Pfc Francis P. Martin enlisted in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on 7 December 1942.

On 16 January 1945 Martin was on a truck convoy bringing rations to the front lines. The convoy was ambushed, and Martin was not among the men who escaped. Over the next few days, the Germans surrounded the 157th, preventing any search for Martin or the recovery of his body. With no evidence in captured German records that he survived the ambush or was held as a prisoner of war.

He was officially declared death one year and one day after he was reported missing in action.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on 28 June 2022 that Pfc Francis P. Martin was accounted for on 21 June 2022. Further information will follow (information added August 2022).

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index / Pennsylvania Veteran Compensation Application Files WWII,
http://www.45thdivision.org
Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Have Paws will travel, DPAA