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Frank O. Burwell, my dad's brother, was stationed at
Camp Croft after graduating from Wofford College in 1940 as a 2nd
Lt. He was sent to the Pacific in mid 1941, was captured on Bataan, survived the death march, and spent the
remainder of the war in a Japanese prison camp. He
remained in inactive reserve status but was recalled to the
US Army in 1948 and sent to Korea in 1952 with the 2d
Infantry Division. He was killed, along with a
group of other officers, when an artillery shell landed in
their tent in early morning during a briefing.
Here are links to two articles about him which
appeared in the Spartanburg Herald newspaper:
Seven Spartanburg Officers Know to be in Philippines
as Defense Ends - 11-Apr-1942
Captain Frank Burwell called by US Army -
23-Sep-1948
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Larry sent these interesting
pictures from Frank's brother James who served during WWII:
"My dad, James W. Burwell, when
they found out [brother Frank] had been captured went ahead
and enlisted at 20 rather than finishing college and they
sent him to Europe in the Air Corps instead of sending to
the Pacific in the infantry as he had requested. My dad was
the youngest and graduated from High School is 1941."
"He was in the 455th bomber squadron, the 323 bomber group
and flew 60 bomber missions during the war. The first was on
June 6th 1944. group was given the Presidential Citation."
TSgt James Burwell, radio operator/waist gunner on the Bat-Outa-Hell
II. Great nose art picture!
That's James Burwell going up into the nose gear hatch under the plane.
His tail gunner took the picture.