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1923 Louis William Finch


Born: May  8, 1923 at Deposit (or Walton), New York   

Died: October 1944 in Italy (World War II)

Buried: 

His father was Unknown.

His mother was Florence (family name unknown).

He was a graduate of Deposit Central High School; the year is not
known for certain but may have been as early as 1940; I found a
school photo in the H.S. yearbook for 1940 showing Louis.  He was
a member of the Glee Club, Band, Orchestra, Press Club, Track, and
the "Aggies".  His nickname was "Louie".  

His yearbook inscription reads:

  "An easy-minded soul and always was."


Louis was married to 1923 Doris Gladys Sherman.
They had no children.

I have only this information about Louis, gleaned from a newspaper article
in the Bainbridge News & Republican, dated November 16, 1944:

  Staff Sergeant Louis W. Finch, of Bainbridge R.D. 2 [Chenango County, NY],
  a top turret gunner on a B-24 Bomber, is reported missing in action
  in the Italian Theatre of War since Oct. 23, according to word received
  by his wife, Doris Sherman Finch, from the War Department.

  Staff Sergeant Finch entered the service on January 29, 1943.  He
  received his training at Buckley Field Armory School, Colorado,
  and the Harlingen Gunnery School, Texas.  The young sergeant had
  participated in major attacks on such strategic targets as the 
  Ploesti Oil refineries, the Herman Goering Tank Works, the Szolnoh
  Railroad, Hungary, the Szeged Railroad, Hungary, and other important
  targets in Hungary, Germany, France and Italy.  He had just been 
  awarded the Air Medal and Oak-Leaf Cluster.  After graduation from
  Deposit Central High School, he was employed as a machinist at the
  Casein Company, Bainbridge. 

Below is a photo of the graduating class of Deposit Central High
School, class of 1940; Louis is at center of the back row: