Franklin McDonald, Jr. served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a Second Lieutenant with the 792nd Bomber Squadron, 468th Bomber Group, Very Heavy during World War II. A Bombardier on the B-29 Superfortress "Gunga Din" (#42-24504), he was killed in action when his B-29 crashed minutes after taking off from the airfield at Chengdu, China on October 26, 1944. They were taking off on a bombing mission to an aircraft plant in Omura, Japan. He was awarded the Purple Heart.