Page 14 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

A bridge and railroad tanker cars destroyed in or around Arezzo, Italy.
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modesty. “Were we at the Point to pick the man most likely to succeed,” the editor wrote, “‘Elk’ would be the one.”
A classmate later wrote, “Leadership exuded; doing the impossible took him only a little longer.”
Commissioned as a second Lieutenant in 1941, Elkin followed in his father’s footsteps serving for a year in the United States Cavalry. He then applied for flight training, earned his wings as a fighter pilot, and was transferred to
the U. S. Army Air Force on February 10, 1943. For the next year, he served as a flight instructor at various bases within the United States. Finally, in March 1944, he was assigned overseas to the 15th Air Force, 57th Fighter Group, 64th Fighter Squadron. His squadron, based in Corsica, flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers in support of Allied forces fighting the Germans in Italy. By this time, Elkin had risen to the rank of Captain.
On April 20, 1944, Elkin’s squadron conducted bombing and strafing attacks on railroad cars and facilities in and around Arezzo, Italy, a key enemy supply depot that lay
about 135 miles north of Rome. The distance from Corsica
to Arezzo required that external fuel tanks be affixed to the P-47. Elkin led his squadron in a dive bombing attack. He dove toward his target and released his bombs. Then, however,
A P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber with long range fuel tanks attached.
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just as he began to come out of his dive, enemy ground fire struck one of the plane’s external fuel tanks, which exploded, sending the aircraft into a flaming roll to the ground. Elkin was initially reported as missing in action, but in August came confirmation to his mother that her 25-year-old son, a young man of such talent and promise, had been killed. He was later buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to the grave of his father. H
CAPTAIN ELKIN L. FRANKLIN, JR. ’36
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GEORGETOWN PREPARATORY SCHOOL