DUGAN, Frank M., Pfc 503d PIR - LOST or FORGOTTEN?
Jun 11, 2018 13:55:13 GMT 8
chadhill, wwalker, and 2 more like this
Post by EXO on Jun 11, 2018 13:55:13 GMT 8
During the course of my research for Bless 'em All Vol III Corregidor, I believe I have found that Pfc. Frank Dugan is missing from the 503d Memorial on Topside.
Dugan's grave is at the Manila American Cemetery, Section A, Row 2, Grave 118.
His Date of Death as recorded by the American Battle Monuments Commission is 27 February 1945. I understand their headstones are based on the individual's "Death File" so we can't be too off if we accept that as gospel. Dugan was a member of the HQ & HQ Co., 1st Bn. He is recorded on the Honor List as dying of wounds. Bennett M. Guthrie ("The Three Winds of Death") has his date of death as 24th February. It is also possible that Dugan's wounds might have occurred 26 February when the Navy Intercept Tunnel at Monkey Pt. was blown up, I just don't know. I'll just have to "be on the lookout", so they say.
Sometimes dates of death can be very difficult to track - and even the name of the individual involved, because when a man is wounded and evacuated, he is recorded as no longer being on the company roll as of the following Morning Report. Instead his name appears on the Hospital Report. Thus if a casualty dies after evacuation, or say, on a Hospital Ship, there is no direct record of his death in the unit. Hence the importance of the early research which my predecessor, Don Abbott, did in tracing people who were wounded and evacuated. For example, he came across an instance where someone was sworn black and blue to be dead, by a direct witness even, only to turn up at a reunion years later.
Here are the images of the 503d Memorial on Topside.
I must admit, I don't know definitively who arranged the memorial, so if any of you know, can you be so kind as to refer them to this thread ? I will contact the 503d PRCT of WWII Association. The Killed on Corregidor February 16 to March 2, 1945 list which appears in the original Templeman's "Return to Corregidor", which is one of several listings that I have been working with, does not list DUGAN (although neither does it mention Pfc. HUSKEY, Harvey R., though HUSKEY is listed on the Memorial.) In every list, there's the possibility that someone may fall through the cracks.
Dugan's grave is at the Manila American Cemetery, Section A, Row 2, Grave 118.
His Date of Death as recorded by the American Battle Monuments Commission is 27 February 1945. I understand their headstones are based on the individual's "Death File" so we can't be too off if we accept that as gospel. Dugan was a member of the HQ & HQ Co., 1st Bn. He is recorded on the Honor List as dying of wounds. Bennett M. Guthrie ("The Three Winds of Death") has his date of death as 24th February. It is also possible that Dugan's wounds might have occurred 26 February when the Navy Intercept Tunnel at Monkey Pt. was blown up, I just don't know. I'll just have to "be on the lookout", so they say.
Sometimes dates of death can be very difficult to track - and even the name of the individual involved, because when a man is wounded and evacuated, he is recorded as no longer being on the company roll as of the following Morning Report. Instead his name appears on the Hospital Report. Thus if a casualty dies after evacuation, or say, on a Hospital Ship, there is no direct record of his death in the unit. Hence the importance of the early research which my predecessor, Don Abbott, did in tracing people who were wounded and evacuated. For example, he came across an instance where someone was sworn black and blue to be dead, by a direct witness even, only to turn up at a reunion years later.
Here are the images of the 503d Memorial on Topside.
I must admit, I don't know definitively who arranged the memorial, so if any of you know, can you be so kind as to refer them to this thread ? I will contact the 503d PRCT of WWII Association. The Killed on Corregidor February 16 to March 2, 1945 list which appears in the original Templeman's "Return to Corregidor", which is one of several listings that I have been working with, does not list DUGAN (although neither does it mention Pfc. HUSKEY, Harvey R., though HUSKEY is listed on the Memorial.) In every list, there's the possibility that someone may fall through the cracks.