499th Bomb Group ( Very Heavy )

AIRCRAFT COMMANDER

SERIAL NUMBER

NICKNAME

EDMUND G SMITH

42-24769

ROVER BOY EXPRESS

Tributes to 2nd Lt William Joseph Franz, Jr
can be found at

Honor States

499th Bomb Group Virtual Cemetery
Scott Muselin

The the following people and organizations have been
very helpful in putting together these pages for
Lt William Joseph Franz :

Mansell Pacific POW Database
Wes Injerd

Roy Wall
Scott Muselin

Jim Bowman
Al Schutte

Chris Stanton
Museum of Flight
Seattle, Washington

The National WWII Museum

Air Force Historical Research Agency

POW Research Network Japan

Pacific Wrecks

Perry - Castaneda Map Collection
University of Texas, Austin

The Question:
Is a B-29 Crew Member Captured and Executed
by Civilians a
Prisoner of War ?

An Answer:
From a historian at the
The National WWII Museum, New Orleans:

" Yes. Similar situations took place in Germany."

One place where Lt William Joseph Franz's
name appears as a Prisoner of War is within

Roger Mansell's
Pacific POW database.

A screen shot with Lt Franz's name is below.

Note that his name is in lower case.
These are the names of POWs who are not in the National Archives data base

Lt Franz was with the 499th Bomb Group, Very Heavy
878th Bomb Squadron
Home of record : NJ (New Jersey)
Executed by Villagers 27 January 1945

Buried at
HN : National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
Section M
Grave 0-740

A second web site with information about Lt Franz is at
Pacific Wrecks

Lt Franz's Aircraft Commander was 1st Lt Edmund G Smith.

Their B-29 was shot down during the 27 January 1945 mission against the
Musashino Aircraft Plant, Target Number 357, Tokyo area.

Seven of the crew survived and five of them were taken to the
Kempei Tai Eastern District Headquarters in Tokyo.

Four died in the crash.

Lt William J Franz, Jr, was captured and executed by civilians.

The situation concerning Lt Robert Grace is unclear.

He is within the POW Honor Roll
with the notation:

Elements of Doubt.

Pages in the

Introduction

provide some background information about Lt Franz and his family.

SCREEN SHOT
MANSELL PACIFIC POW DATABASE
used with permission of Wes Injerd

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CONGRESSIONAL DEFINITION OF A PRISONER OF WAR
source: unknown

 

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TOBU ARMY DISTRICT REPORT
POW Research Network Japan

 

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