Capt. Francis E. Flanders

CAPT FRANCIS E. FLANDERS

CAPTAIN FLANDERS MEMORIAL DEDICATED

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY INTERMENT RECORD

for Captain Francis E. Flanders show that his body was first interred in Marigny-St. Lo, France and was returned under the WWII Dead Program. He was re-interred in Arlington on 209 July 1949.

Captain Francis E. Flanders, C.O. of F Company [1918 -1944], was KIA in Normandy on the day after D-Day. Taken prisoner and placed in a truck convey carrying many U.S. POWs, Capt. Flanders was killed when Allied fighters strafed the convoy. (Read biography)

(Section 34, grave 2807, photo courtesy of Dick O'Donnell)

Note that the interment record for Francis (above) showed that space was reserved for his wife and she ultimately joined him there in 1965.
[Section 34, grave 2808, courtesy of John Evans]

   The American Legion Vincent F. Picard Post 234 of Northborough, Massachusetts, with its color guard and firing squad, dedicated a memorial on May 25, 2008 to Captain Francis E. Flanders who was killed in action while serving as the Commanding Officer of Company F, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division during the invasion of Normandy in 1944.
   Flanders, who lived on East Main Street a short distance from the memorial before entering military service, parachuted into Normandy with his unit at 0215 hours on June 6, 1944 (D-Day). He was captured on D-Day and while being transported out of the battle zone with other American prisoners the following day was killed in a strafing attack by allied planes. The pilots were unaware that the canvas-covered German trucks were carrying American prisoners.
   LTC Irv Shanley and his wife, Flo, placed a wreath on the Flanders memorial. Shanley, who also served with this regiment during World War II, stands at the left next to Legionnaires Jerry Bourque and Bruce Goldsmith. Bourque is the Service Officer for the Vincent F. Picard Post #234, The American Legion and was the Master of Ceremony at the dedication. Goldsmith also served with the 82nd Airborne Division in the 1960s at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and was a member of the Color Guard for the dedication.
   Picard, for whom the Post is named, was killed in action in World War I while serving as a combat medic with the 327th Infantry Regiment of the [then] 82nd Infantry Division.

Captain Flanders was again remembered on Veterans Day, 2020 when his hometown of Northborough, MA placed banners throughout the town honoring veterans of all eras.