Newbie here as well. Great Uncle died in WWII. We always heard he died in India so my searches were concentrated to Burma. Posted his info on Ancestry along with a couple of photo's. I was contacted by a historian, requesting more pictures, and info for a war memorial they had gotten funding for in Washington County, Tennessee. The gentleman was also affiliated with "Honor Flight" which takes Veterans to their memorial site up in DC. He did some research, and found out that my uncle actually died in Saint Lucia, in the Indies. I have tried to find out more about his service, and found that there was an airfield there called Beane field. Not sure what they did there, or specifically how he died. His record says DOW, which means died of wounds, correct? My Grandfather only remembered that when the reps explained things that they said something blew up and that there was a whole bunch of casualties at one time. I can find nothing anywhere on any such explosion on or near his date of death. Any exhaustive research on Beane field and the activities, and units there would be most appreciated. My Uncles name was Howard John Lockner. Thanks to all.
Welcome aboard. There's some people here that are really good at helping find things like that. They should be along shortly. If not post a query in one of the appropriate sub forums. Helps if you give service and country as we are an international forum.
Thanks. He was Army, Saint Lucia is in the West Indies, in the Carribean. This is all I know: http://www.da-academy.org/uploads/9/2/0/3/92034718/stlucia_ww2.pdf
Welcome aboard. Here's a view of Beane Field. It seems that most of the usage was for anti-submarine activity. Are you sure of his name? I've found a John H. Lockner from Tennessee.
Welcome to the WWII Forums xockram1. I carved your post from the other thread to keep things clean. Good luck on your research, I suspect you'll get some good advice here.
Tks Lou, Yes, that would be him. He went by Howard, I guess John was his first name. It would be pretty cool to find out maybe a unit...just anything. Been hidden since his death.
Found this on findagrave.com John attended Washington College Academy and graduated Lamar High School. He worked at the Embreeville Iron Works prior to enlisting in the United States Army on 19 July 1939. After completing training in New Orleans, Louisiana, John was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone. He returned back to the states on September 1941 and was reassigned to the newly formed 434th Infantry Regiment (Separate). The 434th was activated on 20 June 1941 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina for deployment in the Caribbean Area of Operations. John was attached to Company I and sailed with his company to St. Lucia, British West Indies. John returned home on leave in March 1942 to visit his parents in Embreeville. After returning back to the 434th, he died of wounds received just two years later on 30 March 1944. John was 31 years old and he participated in one Unit Campaign, the Defense of the Americas. These things might help.
Here is the Electronic Enlistment Record for John H. Lockner. His ASN is 6948509. You will need that to request his Official Military Personnel File or Individual Deceased Personnel File.