Memorials › Frank Albert Forni Sr

Frank Albert Forni Sr

4 Jan 1916 – 8 Aug 1960

Birth4 Jan 1916
Death8 Aug 1960
CemeteryCarlsbad Cemetery
Carlsbad , Eddy County , New Mexico , USA
Added byCindy Kaye ( Timm ) Eddowes on 01 Apr 2020
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63743802

Bio

As a Second Lieutenant, Frank A. Forni was held as a POW in the Philippine Islands. In December 1944, he was boarded onto the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. The ship came under attack from American planes on December 14th. As evening approached, the attack was called off. The next day the planes returned and continued the attack. The ship was sunk by American planes at Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, on December 15, 1944. The surviving POWs were boarded onto the Enoura Maru which sailed on December 27th and reached Takao, Formosa, by the New Year. While docked it was bombed by American planes on January 9, 1945, killing many of the POWs. The surviving POWs were boarded onto the Brazil Maru which sailed on January 13th and reached Japan on January 29, 1945. In Japan, he was held at Fukuoka #1 and later sent to Jinsen, Korea. He remained at Jinsen until liberated at the end of the war. (Ref: CARLSBAD CURRENT-ARGUS, Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico, dated for Monday, August 8, 1960, front page and page 3, reads as follows: FRANK FORNI, BATAAN VET, DIES TODAY Frank Forni, 45, longtime Eddy County farmer and a veteran of Japanese captivity on Bataan during the second World War, died early today in Albuquerque Veterans' Hospital, following a long illness. He had been hospitalized there for five weeks, but in gradually failing health since returning from the Philippines following liberation 15 years ago. He nearly died about a year ago. He was born Jan. 9, 1916, at Lakewood, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Forni, who came from Italy to New Mexico to farm in the early days of Eddy County. He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister. Surviving are his wife, Patsy, of the family home on Farm-to-Marked Road; five children, Freddie, Donna Ruth, Elizabeth Ann, Frank Jr., and Johnny Ray Forni; three brothers, Fabian, Hubert and Thomas; and four sisters, Mrs. Mary Berry, Mrs. Ann Weldon, Mrs. Margie Autry, all of Carlsbad, and Mrs. Alma Boyce of Lubbock, Texas. Funeral arrangements are pending at West Funeral Home here. As a member of Battery 'F', New Mexico Coast Artillery, Forni was stationed in the Philippine Islands when the Japanese attacked. Along with most of the other men on Bataan, including many from Carlsbad, he was taken prisoner when the peninsula fell on April 8, 1942. He lived through the infamous Death March; and was one of about 300 men who survived from among 1500 aboard the prison ship, Noto Maru, when the Japs tried to return American prisoners to the home islands in the late stages of the war. The ship three times tried to leave the Philippines, and each time American bomb attacks drove it back. Shortly thereafter the first liberation waves landed at Lingayen Gulf. He was discharged as a first lieutenant, and returned to Carlsbad to begin farming south of town with his brothers; but had been in varying degrees of ill health ever since. (Ref: CARLSBAD CURRENT-ARGUS, Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico, dated for Tuesday, August 9, 1960, front page and page 3, reads as follows: FORNI SERVICE SET THURSDAY IN ST. EDWARD Funeral services for Frank Forni, longtime Eddy County farmer and veteran of imprisonment on Bataan during World War II, will be held at 9:30 a.m. Thursday from St. Edward's Catholic Church, with the Rev. Patrick Gauchat officiating. Forni died in the Veterans' Administration Hospital, Albuquerque, early Monday, at the age of 44. His body will arrive in Carlsbad at 6 o'clock Wednesday evening. The Rosary will be recited at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the West Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will be in Carlsbad Cemetery. Enea Grandi, Henry Grandi, Dwight Lee, Les Ward, Larry Ferguson and Harry Stephenson will be pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be Bob and Albert Calvani, Carl Brown, Jake Hollman, Dr. C.J. Doty, Dr. Hauser, Dr. Hillsman, Clyde Putman, Cecil Ginanni, Herbert Bindel, Hence Briggs, O.O. Allen, Harry Moore, Robert D. Nymeyer, Mike Sing and Bill O'Nan, as well as all Bataan veterans and Bataan Gold Star Fathers and Mothers. Bataan vets include Jack Rupe, Calvin Graef, Marvin Bailey, E.L. Ybabban, Leon Beasley, Adolpho Hernandez, Robert Malone, Charley James, Roy Castleberry, Virgil McCollum, Wayne Neiman, Earl Loman, Dick Morris, Bill Williamson, Don Adams, Tony King, Bill Brunt, Donald Dansby, Bob Knight and Paul Womack. Suggested edit: Jerry D Forni # 171515956 was his son with Thelma Brodie / Moore They also had another son Robert Duane Forni ( went by Wayne), Born 28 SEP 1939 • Carlsbad, Eddy, New Mexico, USA DEATH 10 JAN 1990 • Modesto, Stanislaus, California, USA And in 1937 they had an unnamed son who was stillborn Contributor: Traci Donahue (49378408) • [email protected]

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