The Ultimate Sacrifice – World War II (1941-1945) – Fairmount Cemetery, Hodgeman County, Kansas

The translation for 1st Lt. LeRoy Blattner’s monument reads: In Memory of Crew B26 599 BS 397 BG9 AF on August 3, 1944, at a place called “Migeloup” It lists the nine men who perished on that day. At the very bottom it reads: Died For Our Freedom never forget

LeRoy Blattner was the fifth of ten children born to Charles and Elizabeth Haun Blattner. He was born February 5, 1880, in Pawnee County, Kansas. He graduated from high school and the 1940 Federal Census lists his occupation as a salesman.

“According to army reports and investigations on August 3, 1944, the plane in which he was a crew member crashed in the vicinity of Sceaux-sur-Huisne, Department de la Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France. The plane . . . collided with another in the same formation. Immediately upon crashing, the plane burst into flames and the entire crew of nine men perished. French civilians who arrived at the scene gathered the remains from the plane and surrounding area and buried them in a common grave.”1 The remains of the crew were shipped to the United States and reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri.

There is a cenotaph (memorial) for Lt. Blattner in Fairmount Cemetery.

1 Jetmore Republican of September 8, 1949