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Francis Joseph Dowd, Jr
Private First Class
1ST 155MM GUN BTRY, 1ST FLD ARTY GROUP, 11TH MARINES, 1ST MARDIV, III MAF United States Marine Corps Pineville, Connecticut March 11, 1949 to March 13, 1968 FRANCIS J DOWD Jr is on the Wall at Panel 44E, Line 34 |
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The 1st 155mm Gun Battery, as its name implies, was equipped with M53 self-propelled 155mm howitzers. The photo below shows an M53. Notice the enclosed crew cab. 
At 0805 on 13 March 1968, while conducting a fire mission against an NVA emplacement, a 155mm round detonated in the tube of one of the battery's guns, killing six men and injuring another. The 1st 155mm Gun Btry's Operations Log contains the following entry: "13 MAR 68: At 0805 one M53, 155mm (SP) Gun exploded in the battery area; 6 KIAs and 1 WIA sustained as a result."while the narrative summary for the month says "On 13 March 1968, at approximately 0805, an explosion on Gun #2 claimed the lives of six members of that section while another was seriously wounded. On 30 March 1968, the wounded Marine died of complications as a result of the accident. The probable cause, as determined by investigation, was the failure of the breech block to be fully closed and locked prior to firing."The seven men who died were
Francis, who was killed 2 days after his 19th birthday, was survived by his mother Ella and father Francis J Dowd, Sr, Pineville Connecticut. He is buried in Locust Grove Cemetery, Providence Rhode Island. 
- - The Virtual Wall, November 2, 2014
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