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Personal info

Full name
JUGAN, Michael
Date of birth
9 August 1915
Age
29
Place of birth
Beaver Meadows, Carbon County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Beaver Meadows, Carbon County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
33833267
Rank
Private
Function
unknown
Unit
101st Signal Company,
101st Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
17 September 1944
Place of death
In the field at the crossing of the Bornemstraat and Het Hoogste
Mariekerke, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
B 39 41

Immediate family

Members
Harry Jugan (father)
Mary (Salko) Jugan (mother)
Anna L. Jugan (sister)
Susie Jugan (sister)
John Jugan (brother)
Andrew Jugan (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
unknown
Data
unknown

More information

Pvt Michael Jugan was a motorman before he enlisted in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 9 October 1943. He trained at Fort McClellan, Alabama and Fort Meade, Maryland, before he was sent overseas in April 1944.

He already had participated in the D-Day invasion.

Pvt Jugan was a passenger in the CG-4A WACO glider with serial number #42-74356, with destination the landing zone in Son, The Netherlands.

During a turn, the cable between the Dakota tow plane and the Waco became loose. The shock caused the cargo to shift in the Waco, making the aircraft uncontrollable. The tail assembly came of before it hit trees on the edge of a field and smashed into the ground.

The crew consisted only of the pilot. He was killed, along with the six passengers. They were all initially buried at the cemetery of St. Amands.

One of the passengers was Cpl Frederick Sellers of the British Royal Corps of Signals. He is still buried at the cemetery of St. Amands. He and the pilot fell out of the plane before the crash. He still showed signs of life and was taken to the hospital of St. Amands where he died shortly afterwards.

All other casualties are now buried at Ardennes.

At the site of the crash a monument was erected.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.ww2-airborne.us, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Veteran Compensation Application File, www.newspapers.com - The Plain Speaker (Hazleton, Pennsylvania)

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, http://www.usmilitariaforum.com