World War II Honoree

Frank Joseph Curley

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: First Lieutenant. Inducted into the United States Army Air Corps August 19, 1942 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a graduate of the Advanced Flight Aviation Cadet program, he accepted his Commission and Silver Navigator Wings. He served as a Navigator aboard a B-24L ‘Liberator’ Bomber, assigned to the 26th Bomber Squadron, 11th Bomber Group, and a subordinate unit of the U.S. Seventh Army Air Forces. His unit was based on Okinawa Island Location: Northwest Pacific Theater of Operations. Saturday, February 10, 1945 he and his crew were in the Flight Leader Position, while participating in a bombing mission, against the Japanese fortified Island of Hahajima. As the formation approached the target, his bomber was shot down by Imperial Japanese Anti-Aircraft ground fire. On the day of the mission, he was reported missing in action, or lost at sea. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. In his Memory and Honor, this American Patriot received the following decorations posthumously: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and the Purple Heart. The Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded to the Lieutenant for support of operations by heroism or extraordinary achievement, while participating in an aerial flight; The Air Medal was awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight, and the Purple Heart, for his Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.