American Casualties Website - CWGC Equivalent

[HughAHalliday]

A question I am sure has been asked and answered earlier. I seek a website which would identify American air fatalities of the Second World War - an equivalent of the CWGC site. At the moment I am interested in a Lieutenant Grayson, killed 15 April 1943 at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Also Ensign D.A. Eldred (USN), killed with No.413 Squadron, 23 August 1941. There may be others, hence my interest in the appropriate site.

[paulmcmillan]

It is not complete !

https://www.abmc.gov

[jossleclercq]

Hello

the ABMC site pointed by Paul is correct for the casualties buried in military american cemeteries, either abroad or in the U.S..

If the lost men were claimed by their families to be buried in the family plots, you can try "findagrave" with various combinations.

Joss

[dennis_burke]

As the chaps a have alluded to, there is no direct equivalent to the CWGC.

The ABMC lists only those buried in ABMC cemeteries and those remembered on their memorial walls.

There were three options for the disposition of remains, four if you count the missing.

Buried in an overseas cemetery close to the area of operations
Have the remains returned into the families care for burial
Or have the remains buried in a National Cemetery, like Arlington.

There seem to be a good number of group burials in the likes of Arlington, I guess where individuals could not be identfied in a crew or group of passengers.

The overseas cemeteries are of a small number and are the result fo a lot of concentration of remains from outlying wartime burials. For example, there was once a cemetery in Northern Ireland for deeaths there, but any remaining remains were transferred to Brookwood and/or Cambridge later.

It is a horrible legacy really, depending on where you died, you get a lot more memorial.

I have the example of teh three Wallace brothers from Hoboken.

William was killed in a crash on a ferry flight in Ireland, so his father said for his remains to remain overseas and he has a nice grave and online memorial etc via the ABMC.

His two brothers died in naval aircraft training crashes, lost at sea. They get sod all mention, three government agencies basically told me that it was not their remit. Anyway, onto Grayson, I'll search through Ancestry.com

[dennis_burke]

So, on ancestry.com database: U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963
for Frank G Grayson

Name: Frank G Grayson
Birth Date: 31 Jan 1920
Death Date: 15 Apr 1943
Cemetery: Springhill Cemetery
Cemetery Location: Lynchburg, Virginia

2/Lt 25th Squadron, 7th Ferry Group
S/N O-504866

[dennis_burke]

News Journal from Mansfield, Ohio, 20 Apr 1943

FIRST GOLD STAR

Ciney youth meets death in Fighter plane in Yukon
Cincinnati - (AP) Second Lieut. Frank G Grayson, 23, who as a copy boy, was the first employee of the Cincinnati Times Star to enter the military service, two years ago, was disclosed today as its first gold-star casualty. Lieut. Grayson was killed April 15 while flying a fighter plane in Yukon territory. Relatives were notified by the war department.

The The Cincinnati Enquirer has three mentions of him in 1944 but I don't have the 'Publisher extra' account.
Try a post on the armyairforces.com forum, helpful chaps there

[dennis_burke]

if you search on here:

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbaf.htm

Looks like he had a few mishaps along the way
430202 P-39N 42-4950 7FRG AT CBL 3 Grayson, Frank G USA AK Ladd Fld
430415 P-39N* 42-9258* 25FrS 7FrG AT KCR 5 Grayson, Frank G CAN Whitehorse, YT
420824 P-40F 41-14154 AAFFC Wayne County Apt, Romulus, MI TOAEF 3 Grayson, Frank G USA MI Wayne County Airport, MI

YOu can get copied o fthe crash reports from the AFHSO www.afhistory.af.mil or the www.afhra.af.mil (AFHRA).

[dennis_burke]

Eldred was discussed before
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sho...age3&styleid=3

[dennis_burke]

Further to teh above details, the internment form for Eldred states he was intered in Rosecrans in 1954, not 1994.

However his cremated remains had been dispatched back to the USA with diplomatic mail in September 1941 per the Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad fiels on Ancestry.com

His death was covered in a number of US newspapers, with a photo in the Oregon/Salem/Daily Capital Journal. They describe him as "an Assistant naval attache." and that he had been "assigned as an observer to the British Navy 17 April 1941". he had married only the year previous.