Franklin James Dukes

Franklin James Dukes was born on November 8th, 1919, in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of nine children born to first generation English immigrants James and Sarah Ann (née Birchall). However, he grew up as the youngest of five because three of his older siblings had died in infancy, and his oldest sister had already begun her own family before Frank was born.

Frank’s family moved to the central Pennsylvanian county of Mifflin, where he went to elementary school. In the 1940 census, he was listed as living with his sister Edna, his brother-in-law, and their four children. Census records note that he had nothing more than an 8th grade education, and had been out of work for the past year.

At some point, he found a job as a baker, and married Margaret Kyler in August 1942. The timing on this is somewhat curious, because their daughter (also named Margaret) was born in December of the same year, but this (from what I can tell) was not exactly unheard of in that part of Appalachia.

World War II required that all young men register for the draft, and Frank’s number came up in July 1943. As part of the 361st Regiment in the 91st Infantry Division, he would have participated in the battles for Rome and the Arno River in late spring and summer 1944.

"In September 1944, the division crossed the Sieve River, outflanked the famous Gothic Line, and captured the Futa Pass. For its part in combat, the division was awarded the North Apennines, Po Valley and Rome-Arno campaign streamers." [Source]

By spring 1945, Allied forces were set to begin Operation Grapeshot, an attack across the Lombardy plain that stretches from Milan to Venice. The Po Valley Campaign began on 6 April, with the 91st Division set to advance in an arc from Bologna to Vicenza. On April 16th, “the U.S. 91st and 34th Infantry Divisions attacked north along Highway 65 in the Savena River valley… The defending 65th Division had heavily fortified the ridgelines on both sides of the valley, and stiff resistance immediately stopped the American drive.” [Source]

At some point in the fighting that day, Franklin James Dukes was killed in action. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Frank’s widow, Margaret, remarried in 1950 and passed away in 2018. His daughter married in 1964 and is still alive today. But Franklin James Dukes will be forever rest in the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial in northern Italy. I am thinking of him today.