Considerably more information concerning Osaka is at the Case History 328 page and information there will not be repeated here

SSgt Erle P Flanagan is honored at

Honor States

DVRBS

and the   Osaka Virtual Cemetery set up by Scott Muselin.

Erle Patrick Flanagan was born in Philadelphia on 7 July 1917 and by 1930 the family had moved to Audobon, New Jersey. Erle attended Audobon High School and graduated in 1934. The following year the young woman who would become his wife, Doris Walton Oakley, graduated.
They were married sometime in 1939.

He enlisted in the Army on 17 October 1942 and it is interesting to note that his Enlistment Record states that he was Filipino and nativity was Hawaii. To date, I have not found anything to document this.

Below is his station list and he may have attended the Navigation School at San Marcos AAF, Texas. He did not graduate and his schools from then on concerned gunnery.

There is no record of when he joined the 2nd Lt Joe Stanley McSpadden crew, but quite likely this took place between September 1944 and February 1945 during training at Clovis AAF, New Mexico. They were a replacement crew, transferring from Clovis AAF to Kearney AAF, Nebraska. They departed Kearney AAF for Saipan at an unknown date with intermediate stops at Mather AAF,Sacramento and Oahu. Arrival on Saipan was early-mid March 1945.

He was executed at Osaka on either 20 July or 15 August 1945. The latter date may be an administrative decision, best noted in Lt Harry J Foley's section. His remains were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific with details available in the Coming Home section.

Following notification of his death, Doris Oakley Flanagan remarried in 1946. That same year his father, Edgar Joseph Flanagan, died. In the Coming Home section you will see correspondence that was initially sent to Doris Flanagan. By the time letters addressed to Mr Flanagan arrived, notifying him of being Next-of-Kin , he had died. There was quite a delay before Mrs Flanagan began receiving correspondence as Next of Kin.

Details concerning his Recovery and Identification can be found in those sections.

My thanks go out to:

The staff at Audobon High School, Audobon New Jersey
Scott Muselin
Al Schutte
Roy Wall ( IDPF)
Japan POW Research Network

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