Airman Accounted For From World War II (Norris, F.)

WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Frank A. Norris, 23, of Quinlan, Texas, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 19, 2021.

In the summer of 1943, Norris was a pilot assigned to the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Norris was serving as an engineer crashed as a result of enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following the war. The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel, disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification. The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.

In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.

To identify Norris’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Norris’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Norris will be buried in his hometown. The date has yet to be determined.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and to the U.S. Army Regional Mortuary- Europe/Africa for their partnership in this mission.

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 and

https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Norris’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001Ufs3DEAR.

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001Ufs3DEAR

On January 19, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Technical Sergeant Frank Ardith Norris, missing from World War II.

Technical Sergeant Norris joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from Texas and was a member of the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 998th Bombardment Group. On August 1, 1943, he was the engineer on board a B-24D Liberator (serial number 42-40102, nicknamed "Old Baldy") that carried ten crew on a bombing mission against oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania. The Liberator was part of a larger effort to destroy the Ploesti oil refineries, known as OPERATION TIDAL WAVE. Old Baldy was his by anti-aircraft fire over the Ploesti, and the Liberator crashed, killing all ten of its crew. The remains of six members of Old Baldy's crew were recovered and identified after the war; however, TSgt Norris was not among them. Unknown U.S. servicemember remains recovered from cemeteries in Romania were eventually consolidated at the Henri-Chappelle and Ardennes American Cemeteries. In 2017, the DPAA began to exhume these unknown remains to compare them to missing airmen from OPERATION TIDAL WAVE. One set of unknown remains was identified as those of TSgt Norris as part of this effort.

Technical Sergeant Norris is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy.

Frank A Norris