Picked these items up today, all named the the same man and two pictures of him. The US certificate says he was in the 1st ?? Air Service, not sure what the letters are after 1st. I'm going to do some research on the guy and find out how or what he died from overseas, he was from Ohio so it may not be to terribly hard to find out. Nice little group though.

Fritziii

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Nice grouping Fritzii~! ID'ed, KIA and an Aero unit. Thats like the trifecta of WWI collecting.

Thanks Jerry,
I did find some info on him that I'll post later, it's a pretty nice little group, unfortunatly I buggerd at the auction and didn't buy the campaign hats because the one in the pictures was one of them they sold but I didn't make the connection until I got home and realised the signifcance of the white band on the hat meaning pilot cadet.

Fritziii

Well, a friend looked him up for me and this is what the Ohio roster says" Orren G. Franks, SN 1089530, White, 535 Amanda St. Clyde, Ohio. He enlisted in the Regular Army at Columbus Barracks on July 29, 1917. Served first in 41st Aero Squadron Signal Corps to Oct 25, 1917. Then Aviation Section Signal Corps at Call Field Texas until his death. "Died of conflagration from a burning aeroplane." March 27, 1918." I guess he never go overseas unless there is two the name in the roster is spelled different than on the documents, anyway it's a great grouping of a cadet pilot, what a way to go though, wow.

Fritziii

I know the movie "flyboys" breached that, where each man carried a pistol, just in case they burst into flames. I suppose the lesser of two evils.

Brave men they were back then. It is nice to be able to honor their memory.