Technician Fourth Grade Frank J. Perconte, of 314 South Chicago Street, Joliet, Illinois, registered for service in the US Army on October 16, 1940 at the age of 23.
He was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division at Camp Toccoa under the direction of Captain Herbert Sobel. Frank and his friend Herman Hanson we're one of the first to be assigned to Easy Company.
"I remember we took off just after 1:20 and I sat in the back of the plane. They called it a stick. Well, I jumped out and landed in a field. I'm glad it wasn't a road or that could have been rough." said Perconte in a Chicago Tribune interview. 'Frank landed safely in an open field near Ste. Mere du Mont, France in the early morning of June 6, 1944. Frank was lucky to land with a group of his Easy Company soldiers around him that included Carwood Lipton, Frank Luz, William Boyle, and Pat Christenson. It was pitch dark and they had never trained for a jump at night.'" (Chicago Tribune, October, 2013)
Frank Perconte saw action during Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. During the assault on Foy, Belgium on January 13, 1945, Frank was shot by a German sniper. According to military records, he was evacuated to a portable surgical unit for a wound to his upper thigh. Eager to get back to his Brothers, Frank left and met up with Easy Company in Haguenau. He remained with a group throughout the rest of the war.
In February of 1942, on a leave from Ft. Benning, Frank married Evelyn Welch and they had their first child, a boy, who they named Richard. Because he was married with a child, he was one of the first to be released from the paratroopers in the summer of 1945.
After the war Frank returned to Joliet, Illinois where he worked for the US Postal Service for over 30 years. He was a life member of Cantigny Post V.F.W. #367 and St. Raymond Seniors. Frank Perconte died on October 24, 2013 at the age of 96. Lest We Forget.
Frank Perconte was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by James Madio and his story was featured in the 2009 book "We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers " by Marcus Brotherton.
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