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Personal info

Full name
FRANKE, Ellick
Date of birth
30 October 1921
Age
22
Place of birth
Cambria County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
33252184
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Left Waist Gunner
Unit
331st Bombardment Squadron,
94th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
3 March 1944
Place of death
North Sea, near Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
John Franke (father)
Anna (Libertino) Franke (mother)
George Franke (brother)
John Franke (brother)
Betty Franke (sister)
Bertha Franke (sister)
Helen Franke (sister)
Ann Franke (sister)
Evelyn (Mikulik) Franke (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-38075
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Berlin
Mission: Bombing of the industrial areas
MACR: 2794

More information

S/Sgt Ellick Franke was a routeman. He enlisted in Altoona, Pennsylvania on 4 September 1942. He was sent overseas in October 1943 and completed eighteen missions.

On their way to the target, the formation crossed another formation that was returning without bombing their target, due to bad weather. The airplane collided head on with plane 42-31112, killing the entire crew of both planes.

There is a contradiction about the exact place where the plane crashed. According to certain documents, it crashed in Itzehoe, but other documents mention that the body of Thomas Robey washed ashore in Busum on 5 May 1944. This can mean that the airplane crashed in the North Sea.

S/Sgt Franke is also remembered with a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch www.findagrave.com, www.ancestry.com - Veteran Compensation Application File

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Kathy Lavery (niece), Hope