Tech. 5th Class Frank I. Luccardi - Agawam, MA, USA
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neoc1
N 42° 05.674 W 072° 38.071
18T E 695618 N 4662984
A plaque honoring Technician 5th Class Frank I. Luccardi who was MIA and declared KIA while serving in the Army Air Force during World War II. The plaque is located on Highland Avenue at the intersection with Maple Street in Agawam, MA.
Waymark Code: WM13GH4
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 12/10/2020
Views: 0
The Town of Agawam, MA has launched a program to honor town residents who were killed in service to their country in wars from the Civil War to the present. The plaques are places on street posts nearest to where they lived in Agawam.
A 3' long by 1' high, double sided, rectangular, metal plaque with rounded corners is painted black with white lettering. It contains the insignia of the United Stated Army Air Force on the left side and the inscription:
Tech. 5-853rd Engineering Battalion
Frank I. Luccardi
U.S. Army Air Force
* K.I.A.-Nov. 27, 1943-WWII *
Tech. 5th Class Frank I. Luccardi was one of the victims of one of the greatest tragedies of World War II, the sinking of the HMT Rohna. Tech. 5th Class Frank I. Luccardi was attached to the U.S. Army Air Forces, 853rd Engineer Battalion, Aviation serving aboard the HMT Rohna, a British India Steam Navigation Company passenger and cargo liner that was requisitioned as a troop carrier ship in 1940. On November 26, 1943 Rohna was attacked and sunk in the Mediterranean by a Henschel Hs 293 radio guided rocket-boosted glide bomb launched by a Luftwaffe aircraft. As a result, 1,138 men were killed, 1015 of whom were US troops. Tech. 5th Class Frank I. Luccardi is memorialized at the North Africa American Cemetery, Carthage, Tunisia. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.