Remains of WWII airman from Central Florida will be buried this month

LEESBURG, Fla. — Nearly 80 years later, a World War II U.S. Army Air Force gunner from Central Florida will be buried in Leesburg.

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The remains of Hall will be interred on Jan. 21 at Lone Oak Cemetery.

Staff Sgt. Franklin P. Hall, of Leesburg, was assigned to the 66th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in the European Theater in January of 1944.

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According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Hall was on board the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber “Queen Marlene” as a left waist gunner on Jan. 21, 1944, when German air forces near Equennes-Eramecourt, France, attacked the plane.

Hall was killed in action, and he was only 21-years-old.

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Remains of WWII airman from Central Florida accounted for nearly 80 years later Staff Sgt. Franklin P. Hall, 21, of Leesburg, was assigned to the 66th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in the European Theater in January of 1944.

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According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, historians are conducting ongoing research into soldiers missing from combat around Équennes-Éramecourt, France, and found two sets of unidentified remains that were buried in the Normandy American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site.

In April 2018, the remains were transferred to the DPPA laboratory analysis.

In July 2023, the  DPPA laboratory determined that one of the sets belonged to Hall.

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