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Frank Bagdonas Sr. October 29, 2007
Frank Bagdonas Sr., 85, of Chestnut Street, Ashland, passed away
Monday at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown.
Born in Girardville, he was a son of the late Joseph and Eva
Bagdonas.
He was a World War II Army veteran. He jumped into Normandy with the
508 on D-Day, June 6. 1944. He also made the combat jump into Holland on
Sept. 17, 1944, with the 508 and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge,
where he was wounded by shrapnel and awarded the Purple Heart. He went
with the 508 to Frankfurt-am-Main. Germany, after VE Day when the
regiment was selected as Honor Guard to General Eisenhower at SHEAF
Headquarters.
He worked at Indiantown Gap.
He was a member of St. Mauritius Church and American Legion, both of
Ashland.
He was preceded in death by his wife. Mary C. Kenenitz, in 1990;
brothers; and a sister.
Surviving are a daughter, Evanne Barkafski, Lavelle; a son. Frank and
his wife, Mary Bagdonas, North Carolina; a sister. Anna and her husband.
Ed Lycoff, Frackville; grandchildren, James and his wife, Michelle
Barkafski, William and his wife, Kelly Barkafski. Vanessa Bagdonas, and
Mareella and her husband, Paul Rossi; and great-grandchildren, Ezra and
Saylor Barkafski and Carmella Rossi.
Graveside services and interment were held Friday at All Saints
Cemetery, Elysburg. William F. McDonald Jr. Funeral Home, Girardville,
was in charge of the arrangements. |
A FRIEND REMEMBERS
Oliver W. Griffin wrote to the Jumpmaster:
Friday
1 Feb 08
Dear Dick,
I would like to report the death of a
very good friend of mine, and one of the original members of the 508 PIR
He was Frank Bagdonas Sr., 85 [of]
Chestnut Street, Ashland, Pa.
I received a card from his daughter Mrs. Evanne Barkafski, also of Ashland.
She enclosed the Death Notice which explains everything.
There was one little mistake in the
notice. He received the shrapnel wound in Normandy, not the Bulge.
I was with him all the way. He and
I were to fire a rifle grenade thru a window of a house where a sniper
was holed up. Frank crawled out into some woods in order to get a
better shot. He didn't notice a clothesline stretched thru the
woods. When he fired the grenade it hit the clothesline and
exploded. A piece of shrapnel went into his foot. He had a
big smile on his face when I helped carry him out. He was back up
with us the next day. He carried the shrapnel in his foot until
the end of the war. I think it was still in his foot until he
died.
Frank was a very good & brave soldier.
He and I should have been killed several
times. I hope this will help you on your knowledge of the 508 PIR.
Oliver W. Griffin
M/Sgt Retired
July 1966
P.S. The sniper paid with his life for our
troubles.
Excuse the handwriting; I'm getting old. I feel
good for being 85 years old. |
(courtesy of Gary Roberts)
Grave marker for Frank Bagdonas in the All Saints
Cemetery, Elysburg (Northumberland county, Pennsylvania.
Frank enlisted in the Army at Philadelphia, PA on 27
November 1942 and was assigned to Company H, 508th.
He was wounded in action on 7 June 1944 and returned
to the company on 30 June.
Pvt Bagdonas was promoted to T5 on 18 October 1944, a
rank which held during the remainder of the war. |
