Frain Family Tree - Illinois Branch

Martin Frain Plane Crash

Hello Marc.  Thought I would put this together for you.  As with many things when doing genealogy research, you find many ambiguities.  This is another one.  The article I have was probably provided to the local newspaper in or near Spring Valley, IL, by my great uncle Patrick Frain using word of mouth communication from the Chicago branch of the family. Unfortunately, the masthead is missing, but someone stapled the date to the article.

I would have to believe Salinas, CA rather than Salina, KS was his intended destination, since the Santa Maria Air Base PRO provided the info on the article you found.

Hard to say why the discrepancy about his father.  I have to believe Patrick Frain knew who his family was and the relationships, since he and Martin had visited each other 2 months prior to the crash.  Too bad I have lost a piece of the lower right hand corner.  What it says is: "He had attended Hyde Park high school in Chicago and joined the army three years ago. In the city he made his home with his Uncle Daniel Frain at 5933 North Paulina St."  Since he was staying with his Uncle Daniel, could he have named him as a person to contact and the military mistaken him for his father?  Can only speculate why Martin stayed with his uncle instead of his father. 

As I said on my web page, it is ironic Martin had survived 2 prior wartime crashes and then crashed in California. 

The first article is the one mentioned in my web page about Martin Frain. 

The second article was provided by Marc and he found it in the Santa Maria Daily Times, Monday, August 9, 1943

I have included a descendants chart for Martin's grandfather who was Patrick's brother.