Nickname(s) Perco Name Frank Perconte | Rank Technician 4th Grade Years of service 1942-1945 | |
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Born March 10, 1917
Joliet, Illinois ( 1917-03-10 ) Allegiance United States of America Battles/wars World War II
Battle of Normandy
Operation Market Garden
Battle of the Bulge Spouse(s) Evelyn Welch (1942-2003; her death) Died October 24, 2013, Joliet, Illinois, United States Education Joliet Central High School Awards Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Croix de Guerre Battles and wars Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge, World War II Similar People George Luz, James Madio, Ronald Speirs, Albert Blithe | ||
Service/branch United States Army | ||
Frank perconte interview wmv
Technician Fourth Grade Frank J. Perconte (March 10, 1917 – October 24, 2013) was a non-commissioned officer during World War II with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in the United States Army. He was portrayed by James Madio in the HBO/BBC miniseries Band of Brothers.
Contents
Youth
Perconte was born and raised in Joliet, Illinois. His parents were Joseph Perconte, who died in 1929, and Mary Carbone. He was raised Catholic and attended parochial schools. He graduated Joliet Central High School in 1935. During the Great Depression, he and some of his friends moved to Gary, Indiana and worked in a steel mill. He enlisted on August 17, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. Perconte and Hanson, along with Wayne Sisk and Carwood Lipton, were the first four soldiers assigned to Easy Company
Military service
Perconte was a non-commissioned officer in 1st Platoon. In 1942, while on leave from Toccoa, he married Evelyn and had a son named Richard. He participated in the division's airborne assault on France on D-Day, and saw action during Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. On Easy's assault on the town of Foy on January 13, 1945, he was shot in the thigh by a German sniper. Frank was out for a couple of days before re-joining Easy at the town of Haguenau.
Later years
Perconte was demobilized earlier than most of his counterparts as he was married and had a child. He returned home to his family in Joliet and worked as a postman. His nephew, Jack Perconte, played major league baseball during the 1980s with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, and Chicago White Sox.
Perconte was one of 20 contributors to the 2009 book We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers, published by Penguin / Berkley-Caliber. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living member of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion 506 PIR. He died on October 24, 2013 and is survived by his son Richard and two grandchildren.
Awards and decorations
