Sergeant Frank Tracy Haggard

Air Medal

Frank Tracy Haggard was born in Albuquerque NM on June 29, 1921 to Claude J. and Mabel Haggard. He moved around the region growing up in El Paso and Carlsbad. His father died in Carlsbad prior to his graduation from Carlsbad HS in 1939. He enrolled at NMAMC the following fall. That same year his mother took the job as Dean of Women at the school. After one year at NMAMC he transferred to the University of California in La Jolla where his mother had just assumed a similar position. After one year of study he left school and went to work for Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego as a draftsman. In December 1943 he joined the USAAF and was trained as a gunner / radio operator. He subsequently went overseas as a crew member aboard a B-24 Liberator assigned to the 720th Bomb Squadron, 450th Bomb Group then operating out of Manturia Airfield in Italy. On October 7, 1944 he was aboard a B-24 that took part in a raid over Vienna Austria. On the return leg home the ship fell short of fuel and the crew was commanded to bail out over Yugoslavia. Corporal Haggard and a number of his crew were first picked up by peasants who attempted to help them evade capture. Captured by the Ustache, they were held captive for three days before the partisans took the town and freed them. They were then taken to an English mission and eventually flown out to freedom. After 2 weeks rest he returned to flight status. On December 25, 1944, Christmas day, he volunteered to take a crew position aboard B24 #44-41041 “Passionate Pirate” as part of a multi ship raid on Innsbruck Austria. The plane was struck by flak over the target and crashed taking all on board with it. After the war his body was recovered and buried with his crew members in the St Avold American Cemetery in St Avold France. Sergeant Frank Tracy Haggard was 26 years of age at the time of his death.