The plane went missing over the sea and among the lost forever was naturalized American citizen Mary Gollinger.

Mary’s father, Franz Johann Gollinger, was born in Austria but by the age of ten, he had immigrated to Canada. Her mother, Amelia “Emily” J. Schapka Gollinger came from Germany to Canada. The couple were married in Winnipeg, Canada in 1914 when Frank was 45 and Emily was 31.

The newlywed couple’s family grew fast as first a boy, Helmuth Waldemar Gollinger, arrived in 1915. Their daughter, Mary, followed just 16 months later November 24, 1916 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was named Mary Angela Marguerite Elizabeth Gollinger.[i] She also had four half-siblings from her father’s first marriage that ended in divorce. (It is not known if Mary knew her half-siblings, three who lived their entire lives in Winnipeg or the one who immigrated to Minnesota in 1927.)

Frank, and his second family, Emily, Helmuth, and Mary, immigrated to the United States, arriving aboard the Princess Victoria ship. Frank became a naturalized citizen on September 25, 1922 in the U.S. District Court in Western Washington, Northern District of Washington State but the rest of the family were living in the United States as resident aliens. He used the English version of his name, Frank John, and worked as a farmer and a carpenter.[ii]

Eight years later, in 1930, Mary is now 13 and Helmuth is 14. The two young teens are living with just their mother, as their parents are divorced. Frank had returned to Canada and was living in the Manor Hotel in Winnipeg.

HER LIFE BEFORE MILITARY

In 1935, Mary graduates from Roosevelt High School in Seattle. While in school, she was a member of the Honor Society, the German Club, and the Hesperian Club.[iii]

In May of 1940, her father, Frank Gollinger dies at his hotel in Winnipeg, a place that he has called home for ten years. In his obituary, he is only listed as being survived by one of the daughters from his first marriage. The other five children are not mentioned.[iv]

When she was 23, Mary Gollinger became a citizen of the United States in a Naturalization Ceremony at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, California, on July 29, 1940.[v] By this time, Mary’s brother, Helmuth, was already a citizen. He and his wife, Marlys Florence Gollinger, were living in Tacoma, Washington where he was employed at the Atlas Foundry.

Mary is working as a stenographer and typist in San Francisco County, California, according to her enlistment records.[vi]

HER MILITARY STORY

Private First Class Mary Gollinger, service number A-905070, served in the Women’s Army Corp, WACS. Mary enlisted on March 11, 1944 in San Francisco, California.[vii] She served in the 1202nd Army Air Force Base Unit, WACS.

According to HonorStates.org, the women who were in the 1202nd were older, with an average age of 28, than the usual recruit and were chosen for their “maturity and work experience.”

In November of 1944, Mary was one of 159 WACs in Accra, British West Africa to serve with the Air Transport Command. Their job was to deliver troops and supplies as well as transfer aircraft.[viii]

HER LAST DAY

PFC Mary Gollinger was one of 18 members of the Women’s Army Corp on a normally routine 776- mile[ix] flight from Accra, British West Africa to Robert’s Field[x], Liberia. The WACs were onboard as they were being transferred to a new assignment. There were scattered showers that morning but no other weather of note.[xi]

Her plane, piloted by a crew of three[xii], a C-478 #44-76406, disappeared.[xiii]

The plane was last reported over Takoradi, British West Africa, about 150 miles west of Accra, shortly after departure.[xiv]

Little is known about what transpired aboard the plane that day but several calls of “Mayday,” an emergency procedure used as a voice distress signal, were heard. The distress signal was loud and clear, lasting five minutes.[xv] A search was conducted by aircraft and surface craft over a wide area of the French Ivory Coast.[xvi] The search consisted of seven PET’s and British, French and Native forces, who were informed to search waters and coastline. No sign of the plane was found.

The plane is believed to have crashed into the sea near Takordi, Ghana.[xvii] The Chicago Tribune reported the “[xviii]18 WACs were the first ever reported lost overseas.”

She went missing on May 30, 1945 and was declared dead while missing in action off the coast of Ghana, Africa.[xix] News of the missing planes made newspapers across America on June 6th, 1945.

PFC Mary M. Gollinger was 29.

**READ THE STORIES OF ALL 21 ON THIS FLIGHT **

Click here- https://www.fold3.com/page/653613892/flight-c-47b-44-76406-stories-of-21-missing-in-action/stories

COMMENDATIONS

Purple Heart

World War II Victory Medal

American Campaign Medal

Army Presidential Unit Citation

Army Good Conduct Medal

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign[xx]

MEMORIALS

On June 16, 1945, a memorial service for the missing women was held by the WACs’ leadership in Portman Square in London and over 660 WACs attended.[xliii]

PFC Mary Angela Marguerite Elizabeth Gollinger is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, an American Battle Monument, North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage Tunisia.

ABOUT THIS STORY

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

[i] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/family-tree/person/tree/37589240/person/400048476469/facts

[ii] https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?viewrecord=1&r=5561&db=WebSearch-4084&indiv=try&h=1105976

[iii] 1935 Roosevelt High School yearbook, Seattle, Washington: senior pictures

[iv] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/1629/images/31193_122178-03200?pId=5495941

[v] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/1629/images/31193_122178-03200?pId=5495941

[vi] https://www.fold3.com/page/83122668-mary-m-gollinger/facts

[vii] https://www.fold3.com/page/83122668-mary-m-gollinger/facts

[viii] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334268

[ix]https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=22956270&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM3MDE5ODM5MSwiaWF0IjoxNjAwNjUzOTMxLCJleHAiOjE2MDA3NDAzMzF9.GGROPxU0pGgcIxOv2cUjLCtQalRy9746RfogyVqiR44

[x] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56250251/leona-marie_elizabeth-seyfert

[xi] https://www.abmceducation.org/understandingsacrifice/soldier/rose-puchalla

[xii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56250251/leona-marie_elizabeth-seyfert

[xiii] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334268

[xiv]https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=22956270&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM3MDE5ODM5MSwiaWF0IjoxNjAwNjUzOTMxLCJleHAiOjE2MDA3NDAzMzF9.GGROPxU0pGgcIxOv2cUjLCtQalRy9746RfogyVqiR44

[xv] https://www.abmceducation.org/understandingsacrifice/soldier/rose-puchalla

[xvi] New York Times, June 7, 1945 “18 WACS Missing on African Flight”

[xvii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56250251/leona-marie_elizabeth-seyfert

[xviii]https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=22956270&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM3MDE5ODM5MSwiaWF0IjoxNjAwNjUzOTMxLCJleHAiOjE2MDA3NDAzMzF9.GGROPxU0pGgcIxOv2cUjLCtQalRy9746RfogyVqiR44

[xix] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334268

[xx] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=17419

Mary Marguerite Gollinger Roosevelt High School Seattle 1935 crop.png

Mary Gollinger natralization papers.png

Mary M Gollinger