DOB/DOD: August 30, 1921 (Norwalk, CT) – January 22, 1945; 23 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Comstock Hill Road, Norwalk
ENLISTMENT: July 24, 1942
SERVICE NUMBER: 347063
SHIP ASSIGNED TO: USS Essex (CV-9)
STATUS: Missing In Action (MIA); at sea, not recoverable
FAMILY: Born to Frank H. Bissell Sr. (1881-1957) and Katherine M. Hutt Bissell (1888-1964). One brother, William M. (1915-2010).
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart Medal.
CIRCUMSTANCES: Crashed his TBM avenger plane on a bombing run over Kikai Island of the Japanese Islands.
From The Norwalk Hour February 1, 1945
Ensign Frank Harper Bissell Jr. son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Harper Bissell Sr., of Comstock Avenue, has been killed in action in the Pacific Theatre of War according to a Navy Department telegram received by his mother. Ensign Bissell, who was a possessor of several stars for participation in major engagements, was a fighter pilot of a Grumman Avenger. He attended Suffield Academy, Class of ’40. His Navy training included courses at the University of North Carolina; Corpus Christi, Texas, and Glenville, Illinois. In civilian life, he was a lifeguard during summers at the Longshore Club. His brother William, has been in Italy with the Army for the past three years, serving as an engineer and photographer.
Grumman Avenger from flightjournal.com
From Navsource.org photo archive of the USS Essex in 1943
Memorialized at Sea Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, 2177 Puowaina Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii. Photo from findagrave.com.
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