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Albert John Gyorfi

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Albert John Gyorfi

Birth	:	28 Feb 1919 Wilbur, Lincoln County, Washington, USA
Death	:	14 Jun 1942
Burial	:	Bundaberg General Cemetery, Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate	:	-24.8844800, 152.3233800
Description	:	Born February 28, 1919 to Michael and Emma Gyorfi in Wilbur, WA. Died in battle June 14, 1942 on Kiska Island during the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands when the PBY-5A on which he was a crewmember was lost. The crash site and common grave of the crewmembers were re-discovered by wildlife scientists in 2001. The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office recovered the crew's remains in 2003. A group burial for the crew was held at Arlington National Cemetery on May 10, 2006. Albert was and is greatly loved, admired and missed by his family and friends. He sacrificed... Read More	Born February 28, 1919 to Michael and Emma Gyorfi in Wilbur, WA. Died in battle June 14, 1942 on Kiska Island during the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands when the PBY-5A on which he was a crewmember was lost. The crash site and common grave of the crewmembers were re-discovered by wildlife scientists in 2001. The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office recovered the crew's remains in 2003. A group burial for the crew was held at Arlington National Cemetery on May 10, 2006. Albert was and is greatly loved, admired and missed by his family and friends. He sacrificed his life for them in defense of his country. Albert is survived by his loving sisters Marie Goodman of Davenport, Leona Gyorfi of Wilbur, brother-in-law Fred Alderson of Spokane, many nieces and nephews, cousins and caring friends. His brother Martin preceded him in death. His brother Franklin, father Michael, mother Emma, sisters Margaret and Barbara passed on after his death with his memory in their hearts. His identified remains will be interred with full military honors. The Funeral Service will be held at the Wilbur Cemetery, 11 am Saturday June 17, 2006. (Thanks to L McCormick for info) ========== Albert John Gyorfi Aviation Pilot, Third Class, U.S. Navy Service # 3857677 United States Navy Entered the Service from: Washington Died: 15-Jun-43 Missing in Action or Buried at Sea Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial Honolulu, Hawaii Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart GYORFI, ALBERT J AP3C US NAVY DATE OF BIRTH: 02/28/1919 DATE OF DEATH: 06/14/1942 BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 8345 ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY ================ NAVY AIRMEN MISSING IN ACTION FROM WORLD WAR II ARE IDENTIFIED The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of seven U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors. The are Ensign Leland L. Davis, Jackson, Miss.; Ensign Robert F. Keller, Wichita, Kan.; Seaman 2nd Class Elwin Alford, Bogalusa, La.; Seaman 2nd Class Dee Hall, Syria, Okla.; Aviation Machinist Mate John H. Hathaway, Lafayette, Ind.; Aviation Radioman 2nd Class Robert A. Smith, Glen Dive, Mont.; and Aviation Pilot 3rd Class Albert J. Gyorfi, Wilbur, Wash.; all U.S. Navy. The group remains of all seven are to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, as are the individually-identified remains of Davis, Alford and Hathaway. Hall has already been buried in Oklahoma, and individual burials for the others are being set by the families. The seven man crew was aboard a U.S. Navy PBY-5 Catalina which took off from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on June 14, 1942, to attack Japanese targets in Kiska Harbor. They encountered inclement weather near the target, as well as heavy Japanese anti-aircraft fire. Their plane crashed on the Japanese-held island of Kiska with all seven aboard. In August 1943, the U.S. retook Kiska Island from the Japanese. Wreckage of the PBY-5 was found on the side of Kiska Volcano. The remains of the crew were buried in a common grave marked "Seven U.S.N. Airmen" with a wooden marker. Following the war, attempts to locate the common grave were unsuccessful and the remains of all seven were declared to be non-recoverable. In 2002, a wildlife biologist notified DPMO that he had found the wreckage of a WWII aircraft on the slope of Kiska Volcano. Using that information, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated the crash site in August 2003 where they found debris from the PBY-5 as well as crew-related items. The JPAC team also located the wooden marker as well as the remains buried nearby. Subsequent JPAC laboratory analysis led to the individual identifications of all seven crewmembers. Approximately 78,000 servicemembers are unaccounted-for from World War II War. ==== Wilbur Register - June 1, 2006 Gave His Life In Service Almost exactly 64 years from the day he died when his plane crashed on the side of Kiska Volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, Albert J. Gyorfi is coming home to Wilbur. A military graveside service will be held for Gyorfi at the Wilbur Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, 2006. Gyorfi, a 1938 graduate of Wilbur High School and a Navy Aviator, died on June 14, 1942, along with his six crewmates, while taking part in a four-day bombing mission against the Japanese, which had invaded the island of Kiska. Gyorfi joined the Navy Reserves shortly after graduating and enlisted in the regular Navy when his hitch was up with the reserves. He was only 23 at the time of his death. Over a year later, in a letter dated Oct 26, 1943, Gyorfi's parents, Michael and Emma Gyorfi, received word from the Navy that their son's remains had been found and buried near the wreckage of the US Navy PBY-Catalina twin-engine amphibious reconnaissance plane. The letter stated, ‘Your son, Albert John Gyorfi, was a member of an airplane crew which failed to return from a bombing attack on Kiska Harbor. Despite a thorough and long-continued search of accessible islands and the sea in that area, no trace was found of the plane or its crew. Since the reoccupation of Kiska (by the US), however, the badly damaged wreckage of an airplane bearing the number of the airplane in which your son was last reported, has been discovered on the west-northwest slope of Kiska volcano. There was evidence that the seven men had died in the crash. There had been seven men in the missing plane's crew. Burial was made at the scene of the crash. This discovery lends strong support to the findings of the Secretary of the Navy that your son lost his life. The Navy Dept joins you in respect for the honored memory of your son who died in the performance of his duty and in the service of his country.' A short time later, the family received another letter posthumously awarding the Purple Heart to Gyorfi since he was a member of the US Navy and was killed in action. Some months earlier, the family had received word from the Navy that Albert, an Aviation Pilot Third Class, had been awarded a medal for meritorious achievement while in aerial combat as a navigator and gunner of a patrol plane in action against the Japanese during the Aleutian Islands campaign from June 10 to June 14, 1942… After learning that their son's remains had been found and buried on Mt Kiska, Albert's parents held a memorial service in Wilbur and had a headstone with his name on it placed at the Wilbur Cemetery. Gyorfi was the first local man to die in WW II. Following the war when the first soldiers returned home and started a VFW Post, they named it in his honor. The Albert J Gyorfi VFW Post #6268 is still active today. After the war, the military made an effort to locate the common grave of the seven crewmen from the plane, but were unsuccessful and the remains of all seven were declared to be non-recoverable. The grave had been marked with a wooden marker, which read ‘Seven USN Airmen' but it was not found. Mountain ice covered the gravesite and the airplane wreckage, and it remained hidden until recent years when global warming melted the ice and left the site visible once more. In July 2001, Ian L Jones, a biology professor from Iowa who was teaching at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, came upon the wreckage while hiking on Kiska Volcano as he conducted research on Norway rats. A year later, in July 2002, he revisited the site and this time found the plane's identification number. He reported it to the military and in August 2003, a recovery team arrived at the wreckage and found the gravesite. The remains of the seven crewmen were recovered and DNA testing done. In Feb 2005, blood samples were taken for comparison purposes from Albert Gyorfi's two surviving sisters (there had been seven children in the Gyorfi family), Leona Gyorfi of Wilbur and Marie Goodman of Davenport. A month later they received a report that a match had been found and some of the remains were identified as those of Albert Gyorfi. A team of five people from the Joint Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Accounting Command visited the family at Leona's home in Wilbur in Nov 2005 to inform them about the entire situation and answer their questions… The remains specifically identified through DNA testing to be those of Albert Gyorfi's will be brought from Hawaii, where they are currently located, and buried at the Wilbur Cemetery on June 17. ====

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Albert John Gyorfi's memorial?
Albert John Gyorfi's memorial is located at: Bundaberg General Cemetery, Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Australia.
When did Albert John Gyorfi death?
Albert John Gyorfi death on 14 Jun 1942 in
Where are the coordinates of the Albert John Gyorfi's memorial?
Latitude: -24.8844800
Longitude: 152.3233800

Family Members:

Parent

Michael Gyorfi

(1885 - 1952)

Emma C. Marguss Gyorfi

(1889 - 1966)

Siblings

Michael Franklin Gyorfi

(1913 - 1954)

Margaret Emma Gyorfi Peterson

(1915 - 1995)

Martin Luther Gyorfi

(1920 - 1940)

Barbara A. Gyorfi Alderson

(1925 - 2001)

Marie H Gyorfi Goodman

(1930 - 2020)

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Bundaberg General Cemetery
Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.8844800, 152.3233800

2. Bundaberg Catholic Cemetery
Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.8953620, 152.3426630

3. Original Bundaberg Cemetery (Defunct)
Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.8685900, 152.3465300

4. Bundaberg Crematorium and Memorial Park
Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.9131630, 152.2998890

5. Springfield Gardens Crematorium
Calavos, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.8975850, 152.4578050

6. South Kolan Cemetery
South Kolan, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.9390920, 152.1427140

7. Avondale Independent Cemetery
Rockhampton Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.7368700, 152.1627900

8. Philips Private Cemetery
Pine Creek, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.0532680, 152.1633390

9. Cordalba Cemetery
Cordalba, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.1562560, 152.2146830

10. Childers Lawn Cemetery
Childers, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.2241618, 152.2642764

11. Apple Tree Creek Cemetery
Apple Tree Creek, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.2254030, 152.2386650

12. Gin Gin Cemetery
Gin Gin, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.9966870, 151.9487120

13. Booyal Cemetery
Booyal, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.1758160, 152.0520170

14. Agnes Vale Station Cemetery
Childers, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.2720660, 152.2496070

15. Walla Station Cemetery
Gin Gin, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.1250040, 151.9782540

16. Rosedale Cemetery
Rosedale, Gladstone Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.6180630, 151.9158230

17. Howard Remembrance Park
Howard, Fraser Coast Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.3054360, 152.5470520

18. Rosedale Baffle Creek Cemetery
Baffle Creek, Gladstone Region, Australia
Coordinate: -24.5208900, 151.9568800

19. Barlows Farm Cemetery
Takura, Fraser Coast Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.3330030, 152.7191200

20. Polson Cemetery
Point Vernon, Fraser Coast Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.2522717, 152.8135186

21. Boolboonda Cemetery
Boolboonda, Bundaberg Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.0652000, 151.6921200

22. Hervey Bay Crematorium
Hervey Bay, Fraser Coast Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.2991870, 152.8075780

23. Bayside Gardens Crematorium
Nikenbah, Fraser Coast Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.3135540, 152.8020030

24. Aalborg Danish Cemetery
Nikenbah, Fraser Coast Region, Australia
Coordinate: -25.3169800, 152.8047240