McKEAN COUNTY
WORLD WAR II
Casualties: 271
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US
THEATRE: 47 Civilian:
1 |
EUROPE:
148
Killed in Action North Africa: 10 Sicily: 4 Italy: 14 France: 30 Belgium: 6 Netherlands: 2 Germany: 43 England: 2 Shotdown Germany: 12 Hungary: 1 Austria: 1 Sicily: 1 Netherlands: 1 England / Channel: 3 Italy: 1 France: 2 Yugoslavia: 1 Belgium: 1 Romania: 1 Navy: 4 Missing in Action: 7 Died as POW: 1 |
PACIFIC:
76
Killed in Action Philippines: 17 Peleliu: 2 Guam: 2 Iwo Jima: 3 Okinawa: 3 Saipan: 2 Hawaii: 1 Moratai: 1 New Britain: 1 Burma: 1 India: 1 New Guinea: 4 China: 3 Guadalcanal: 3 Civilian POW: 1 Navy MIA: 15 Army MIA: 1 Air Force MIA: 7 USMC MIA: 1 Buried at Sea: 4 Died as POW: 3 |
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Private
Robert S. Alexander Company G, 311th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division Hometown: Kane Died in service on 30 December 1942 Camp Butner, NC. Buried: Forest Lawn Cemetery, Kane |
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Messman
August J. Anderson The survivors of the complement of ten officers, 32 men and 17 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4 inch, one 3 inch, four 20mm and two .30 cal guns) abandoned the ship after 30 minutes in three lifeboats and three rafts. The tanker sank stern first at 08.30 hours and ten minutes later, the U-boat surfaced and took the master and the chief officer as prisoners. The boat in charge of the second mate with 17 men set course for Bermuda, but this boat capsized twice in heavy seas during the night of 7 December. Eight men drowned and three others died after the boat was righted. After 15 days at sea, the remaining three crewmen and three armed guards in this boat were picked up by the Spanish motor merchant Motomar in 38°10N/35°24W, 650 miles south of where the Caddo sank. On 24 December, they were landed at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania and hospitalized. The 40 men in the other two lifeboats were never seen again. The master Paul B. Muller died later in a POW camp and the chief officer was repatriated in 1945. |
 Private
First Class Buried: Forest Lawn Cemetery, Kane |
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| The 551st was attached
to the 82nd Airborne Division and was assigned to push back the
Germans from the Salm River valley. On 3 January, the battalion
was to attack in the direction of Dairomont, a small village with
open fields covered with fifteen inches of snow and scouts had reported
the Germans having several machine guns, mortar positions and supporting
armor. Recalled as the “battle of the sunken road” by those veterans
there that day, the paratroopers launched the assault with A Company
taking immediate small arms fire and took cover along an embankment
in the snow covered field. A German tank emerged from the left,
near the Laurent farm, and fired point-blank into the troopers.
Another tank came from the opposite direction and began attacking
the same group. The paratroopers are mowed down and some take shelter in the ditch along the road. One tank is knocked out of action with a direct hit in the tracks and the order to retreat back to the woods is given to the survivors. Sixty-eight enlisted men and three officers are killed in the fighting that day from the 155 men in A Company. On 7 January, the under strength battalion led a suicide attack across the open fields against the last enemy pocket of resistance in Rochelinval. Company A led the assault with forty-six men and were decimated by the German machine gun fire. Only seven men made it to the village edge. The rest of the battalion finally overwhelmed the German defenders and captured the village taking three hundred prisoners and killing fifty-one. After only five days of combat, 110 men were left from the original strength of 790. The casualty rate was 84%, the highest of the airborne units after its sister airborne unit, the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion. |
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Private
First Class Earl J. Anderson Anderson
was a clerk/typist with the 345th. A Kamikaze attack on the
Liberty ships SS Thomas Nelson and SS Morrison R. Waite in Leyte
harbor killed 111 members of the 345th Bomber Group. |
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Staff
Sergeant Wallace K. Anderson Posthumously awarded the Silver Star when he left his foxhole as he saw a truck burst into flames after hitting an anti-tank mine. In the face of an intense artillery and mortar barrage, he made his way across 250 yards of enemy fire-swept terrain to the vehicle. Despite the flames and concentrated enemy shelling, Anderson successfully extricated an officer and two enlisted men who were helplessly trapped in the truck. |
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Pivate
Howard E. App |
B
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Staff
Sergeant Chester C. Bair 215th Training Battalion, Camp Blanding, FL Hometown: Eldred Died of illness on 3 April 1944 Age: 46 Buried: Lamphier Cemetery, Eldred |
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Corporal
Burton G. Baker 633rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery, Automatic Weapons Battalion, Coast Artillery Corps Hometown: Rixford Killed in action on 12 September 1944, France Age: 24 Buried: Lamphier Cemetery, Eldred Repatriated: 18 May 1949 |
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Private
First Class
Paul Z. Beck Company E, 405th Infantry Regiment 102nd Infantry Division Hometown: Bradford Killed in action on 28 February 1945, Germany Age: 21 Buried: Plot C, Row 9, Grave 4 Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands |
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Seaman
2/Class
John Begeny, Jr United States Coast Guard USS Leonard Wood (APA-12) Hometown: Ludlow Wounded in action on 15 November 1942 Died of Wounds: December 9, 1942 Age: 20 North Africa Buried: Sheffield, PA Repatriated: 3 June 1948 |
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Tech
Sergeant Robert A. Bell
318th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division Hometown: Bradford Died of wounds on 24 September 1944 Age: 25 Buried: Plot C, Row 15, Grave 90 Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France |
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Private
First Class Edgar W. Bennett United States Army Hometown: Eldred Killed in action on 17 September 1944, France Age: 28 Buried: Allegany, NY Repatriated: 8 July 1949 |
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Private
First Class Edward W. Bernard Company G, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division Hometown: Custer City Killed in action 15 September 1944, Peleliu Age: 20 Buried: McKean Memorial Park, Lafayette Twp Repatriated: 12 November 1948 |
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Fireman
1/Class Charles E. Berringer, Jr.
On 19 March 1945, off Shikoku, the USS Franklin was struck
by two bombs which passed through the flight deck and detonated
in the hangar. A terrific conflagration fed by gasoline in aircraft
fuel tanks, together with detonations of a large number of heavy
bombs and rockets loaded on aircraft, demolished a major part
of the flight deck and wrecked the hangar and gallery deck spaces. |
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Corporal
Mervin P. Birtcil
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Corporal
Frank D. Black
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Second
Lieutenant
William F. Blaine B-17 pilot, 352 Bomber Squadron, 301 Bomber Group, Heavy Hometown: Kane Killed in action 3 April 1944 Over Hungary on 5th Mission Age: 22 Group Burial: Section E, Site 79 Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, KY Repatriated: 29 June 1949 |
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First
Lieutenant Donald E. Blair Bombing mission from Pandaveswar to Moulmein, Burma. Attacked five minutes after leaving their target, Blair's B-24 had one engine on fire as it dove into clouds over Bilugyun Island, 10 miles from Moulmein. Declared deceased October 4, 1946. |
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Lieutenant
(JG) Robert W. Blakeslee
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First
Lieutenant Bert L. Blendinger C-46 Pilot, 49th Troop Carrier Squadron, 313th Troop Carrier Group Hometown: Bradford Killed in action 24 March 1945 over Germany Age: 24 Buried: Willow Dale Cemetery, Bradford Repatriated: 3 November 1948 |
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Private
First Class George O. Bloomquist, Jr Company F, 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division Hometown: Kane Killed in action 15 April 1945 at Bongao, Philippines Age: 19 Buried: Mt. Tabor Cemetery, Kane Repatriated: 4 September 1948 |
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Private
First Class Peter S. Bonfilio Battery B, 559th Field Artillery, 83rd Infantry Division Hometown: Kane Died from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident in Belgium on 31 January 1945 Buried: St. Callistus Cemetery, Kane Repatriated: 13 August 1948 |
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First
Lieutenant Borsa's
C-47 was shot down by American Naval AA friendly fire when mistaken
for enemy aircraft. All five men on the C-47 were killed. Radio
Operator Guerner and Navigator Borsa are buried next to each
other in Arlington. |
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Corporal
Eldene B. Bosworth Company E, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division Hometown: Port Allegany Killed in action 14 April 1945, Muhlenberg, Germany Buried: Coudersport, PA Repatriated: 8 December 1948 |
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Sergeant
Bernard D. Bova Company K, 106th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division Hometown: Duke Center Killed in action 23 June 1944, Saipan Age: 27 Buried: Pleasant Valley Cemetery, Olean, NY Repatriated: 21 January 1949 |
  Tail section of Bowler's B-17 near Schornsheim, Germany, after Regensburg mission. |
Sergeant
Richard E. "TEX" Bowler Bowler
was a replacement gunner for another crew member that was injured.
Bowler was badly wounded by ME-109 and probably died during decent
in his parachute or upon landing near Schornsheim, Germany. |
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Corporal
Ralph E. Bradybaugh Company C, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division Hometown: Kane Killed in action 3 January 1945, near Bastogne, Belgium Age: 21 Buried: Forest Lawn Cemetery, Kane Repatriated: 9 December 1948 |
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Corporal
Alfred O. Brockell Company A, 143rd Infantry Regiment 36th Infantry Division Hometown: Port Allegany Killed in action 3 October 1943, Italy Age: 26 Buried: Fairview Cemetery, Port Allegany Repatriated: 30 November 1948 |
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Aviation
Chief Radioman Francis F. Brown
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First
Lieutenant
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Seaman
2/Class Avram H. Bryman Tablets
of the Missing |
 Private
First Class Kenneth C. Burkhard Burkhard was leading a platoon in action and it was his heroism in attracting enemy fire which saved the remainder of the unit from being wiped out. |
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SF
1/c Justin James Butler
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Tech
Sergeant William J. Butler
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A - B
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