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Author: ShookGenealogy
Surnames: Brunk
Classification: queries
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http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties...
Message Board Post:
Here is additional information concerning Frank J. Brunk from the following website:
http://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Military/WWIIList/BrunkFrankJ.html
Frank J. Brunk
Staff Sergeant, 17th Squadron, 71st Reconnaissance Group, US Army Air Force
Date of Birth: March 16, 1923
Date of Death: June 8, 1944
Cause of Death: Killed in Action (bombing mission, New Guinea)
Date of Enlistment: October 30, 1942
Monument: Fort William McKinley, Manila, The Philippines
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Purple Heart
Hometown: Chesterton
Newspaper Notices:
Frank Brunk Dies In Action
CHESTERTON, Ind. June 26 -- Mr. and Mrs. Claude Brunk, of Chesterton, received word this
morning in a wire from the War Department that their son, Staff Sergeant Frank Brunk, 20,
was killed in action June 8 while on duty in the New Guinea area.
Sgt. Brunk was a radio operator on a reconnaissance plane, and had been overseas about
three months. He was home on furlough the last time earlier this year before leaving for
duty overseas.
A graduate of Chesterton high school, he was a veteran of two years' service in the U.
S. Army Air Corps. He had received his first training at Scott Field, Illinois.
The youth is survived by his parents and a sister, Barbara.
___________________________________________________
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; June 26, 1944; Volume
17, Page 1, Column 5
Mr. and Mrs. Claude Brunk, of Chesterton, have received a Distinguished Flying Cross
awarded posthumously to their son, S/Sgt. Frank Brunk, of the U. S. Army Air Corps. Sgt.
Brunk died of wounds received on June 8, 1944, when a B-24 bomber of which he was an
aerial gunner was shot down during an attack on a heavy Japanese cruiser in the New Guinea
area. Some time ago the parents received a Purple Heart which was awarded to Sgt. Brunk.
___________________________________________________
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; March 29, 1945; Volume
18, Page 2, Column 5, and Page 6, Column 1
HONOR HEROIC SON
In memory of the supreme sacrific made by the late Frank Brunk, a painting has been
presented to the local high school by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Brunk. It is an
excellent copy of "Coast of Monterey" by Wood, 24x36 inches, and will hang in
the school library.
Staff Sgt. Frank Brunk gave his life for his country in the southwest Pacific in the New
Guinea area while on a reconnaissance or bombing mission June 8, 1944. He was a radio
operator and gunner of a bomber crew, enlisting in the air corps in October, 1942. He was
a graduate of the high school in 1941 and was born March 16, 1923.
The picture was formally accepted at a convocation this afternoon.
___________________________________________________
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; February 28, 1947;
Volume 20, Number 201, Page 3, Column 4
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