WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Force Staff Sgt. Franklin P. Hall, 21, of Leesburg, Florida, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 13, 2023.
In January 1944, Hall was assigned to the 66th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in the European Theater. On Jan. 21, Hall, a left waist gunner on board a B-24D Liberator Queen Marlene, was killed in action when his plane was attacked by German air forces near Équennes-Éramecourt, France. German forces quickly found the crash site and recovered nine sets of remains, which were then interred them in the French cemetery at Poix-de-Picardie. Hall’s remains were not accounted for after the war.
Beginning in 1945, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, searched the area around Équennes-Éramecourt. None of the investigations uncovered any leads regarding the disposition of Hall’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable on March 01, 1951.
DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Équennes-Éramecourt and found that X-391 St. Andre (X-391) and X-393 St. Andre (X-393), buried in Normandy American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site, could be associated with Hall. X-391 and X-393 were disinterred in April 2018 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis where it was later determined the remains of X-393 belonged to Hall.
To identify Hall’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.
Hall’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Ardennes American Cemetery, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Hall will be buried in Leesburg, Florida, on a date to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Hall’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000cc5REAQ.