WILLIAM R. FRANCIS

Branch of Service: Army

Rank: Private, first class

Service years: 1944

Glen Rock: Lived in Glen Rock on Hamilton Ave

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William R. Francis grew up in Glen Rock on Hamilton Ave as an only child of Mr. and Mrs. Willam S. Francis. He went to Central Elementary School in Glen Rock and graduated from Ridgewood High School in the class of 1942. In his junior year at Ridgewood High, he played on the football team as an extracurricular activity. He was an active member of the Community Church in Glen Rock. 

William became interested in aviation and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in February of 1944. At Roosevelt Aviation School in Mineola, Long Island he took a course in master mechanics. After this, he trained further in Florida and Sheppard Field, Wichita Falls, Texas. In February of 1944 at the Boeing Aviation School in Seattle, he qualified to receive his technical aircraft training certificate on the B-17 Bomber.  He was then transferred to Avon Park, Fla. where he was then troubled with bulbar poliomyelitis, also known as infant parallelisis. He died shortly after that in September 1944.

 

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Born: 1895, Glen Rock, NJ

Died: 1944 Avon Park, FL