671st BS Patch

416th Bombardment Group (L)

Francis Wilhelm "Frenchie" DeMand

1st Lt, Pilot

March 19, 1922 - KIA September 29, 1944

671st Bombardment Squadron (L)

 WWII-Medal

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Lt. Robert Morton died in an aircraft training accident at Vinton, LA in 1943 and Lt. Arthur McDonald was killed when his plane crashed near London, England in April of 1944.  Lt. Ritter was transferred to the South Pacific, but survived the war and returned to Wichita, as did Lt. William Merchant, De Mand's closest friend and fellow pilot in the 671st.  In the photo above, Francis (right) and Lt. Merchant stand before the A-20 "Uncle Bob" flown by De Mand.

Francis W. De Mand (also written by others as DeMand) grew up in Wichita, Kansas, the son of a country doctor who died of pneumonia in 1926 while Francis was just a young boy.  He and his two sisters were raised by their mother, Martha, who ran a rooming house during the depression years.   Francis graduated from high school with war on the horizon and joined the Army with four of his high school buddies.  They all were enlisted at the same time, took flight training together and earned commissions as pilots in the Army Air Corps.  Lieutenants De Mand, Merchant, Morton, McDonald and Ritter all became A-20 Havoc pilots and were part of the initial cadre that joined the 416th Bomb Group at Oklahoma City.








Lt. De Mand was leading Box II, Flight 3 on September 29, 1944 in an attack on the railroad marshalling yards at Julich, Germany.  Lt. Dave Andrews was flying on De Mand's left wing, only a few yards away.  Dave recalls the event with absolute clarity in a "Witness to War" video seventy years after the fact.  An artillery barrage destroyed De Mand's plane in a direct hit, killing all but Ssgt Middleton, one of the gunners, who was blown clear of the plane by the explosion.  Originally buried in Germany, the remains of Lt. De Mand and of his Bombardier/Navigator Alwin Burns, were transferred after the war to the ABMC cemetery at Margraten, Netherlands.  The family of nearby resident Ron Wintjens has adopted the Grave of Francis and honors his memory on special occasions.  De Mand's gunner, Ssgt Reuben Troyer is buried at the ABMC cemetery in Ardennes.



See also Francis W. De Mand Photo and Document Collection from Rick Greer, nephew of Francis