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SSGT JOSEPH G. ENDRESS

War Dept Telegram
dated 13 February 1945 advising of Joseph's death less than two weeks earlier.  Given the manual systems in use at the time, this notification was actually quite fast.

Grave marker for SSgt Joseph G. Endress at Plot E Row 12 Grave 23 in the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery, Belgium.
   SSgt Endress was killed in action on January 31, 1945 and was awarded the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster.  At the time of his death he was an acting 2nd Lieutenant but paperwork had nor been submitted and he is recorded at his highest held rank of SSgt.

(photo courtesy of Bill Knapp)

Gone But Not Forgotten
Bill Knapp visited the grave of his friend, SSgt Joseph G. Endress in June 2016.
   A note received from [Lt.] Ed Wheelock in December 2011 said, "I want to note that Joe Endress was my platoon sergeant---a tough kid from Chicago. He was hit and killed by a 'short' round part way through the 'Bulge'. The 'short' round was from our own artillery --- they sometimes fell short due some kind of manufacturing error. Right after that Bill Knapp (a SSgt in B Co) was sent out on a patrol---I tagged along, I had to do something."

(photo courtesy of American Battle Monuments Commission)

Dual Memorial Service
was held for the Endress brothers sometime following the war.  Younger brother, Seaman 2nd Class Melvin H. Endress was killed in action on 4 April 1945.  [Note that the date of his death as shown is inaccurate.]

S2C Endress is memorialized on on the panels of the missing erected on the Cenotaph in the Courts of the Missing, Court 3, of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Two brothers lost in battle on opposite sides of the globe.

The USS Franklin (CV-13), nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II.  On 19 March 1945 the Franklin maneuvered within 50 miles of the Japanese mainland, closer than any other U.S. carrier had  done during the war. Suddenly, a single enemy plane pierced the cloud cover and made a low level run dropping two semi-armor piercing bombs. Both struck the flight deck causing enormous fires in the hangar deck below which threatened the ship and left 724 killed and 265 wounded. 
   Remarkably, on 28 April "Big Ben" made it back to New York City and the Brooklyn Naval Ship Yard to undergo repairs.  As seen here, her flight deck suffered massive damage.