Not afraid of hard work, Pauline McKinney’s lumber industry family sent Pauline and two brothers off to defend their country.

Pauline McKinney was the sixth child born to Francis “Frank” Marion McKinney and Nellie Rosetta “Rose” Golliver McKinney on October 29, 1904. Frank was 28 when he married Rose, a 14-year-old. The two had each completed the fifth grade.[i] Although a look at their marriage license will show that Rose claimed to be 18.[ii] Both had been born in Ohio. The couple made their home in Garden, Michigan where Frank was a farmer at the time of the marriage.[iii] During their marriage, Rose gave birth to ten children but lost two as infants.

Known by her middle name of Pauline, rather than her first name of Alice, she came into a family that had already suffered the loss of two babies. Their first child born in 1905, Mary Jane McKinney, lived but a day. In 1906, the couple had Florence Minerva McKinney Graleske and then William “Bill” Henry McKinney was born in 1907. Bill reported on his draft card that he was born in Bryne, Ohio. It is not known how long the family was located there.

In 1909, they lost another little girl. Goldie May McKinney lived only two weeks.

At least for a while after the loss of Goldie, Rose, Pauline’s mother, lived with her older sister and her family. In 1910, she is living with Andrew and Martha Williams and their children.

After that, the family continued to grow. In 1914, another boy joined the family. Edward Theodore McKinney was born in Seneca, Michigan. So, by the time Pauline in 1917 came along, she was welcomed by siblings ages 3, 10, and 11. Bill, at age 10, was finishing the fifth grade and after that he did not attend school.[iv]

In 1920, the McKinney family of six were living in a rental home in Garden, Michigan, which is located on Lake Michigan. Frank was part of the area logging industry. He worked as a laborer in the woods. The family continued to grow. After Pauline, came Juanita Viola McKinney Leaf, 1922, and Monica Lucile McKinney Gwinn Conners, 1924. In 1926, Edward finishes the sixth grade, one year more than his parents and brother and he leaves school too.

In 1926, the family grows in a new way. Pauline’s oldest sister, Florence, 20, is married to Martin Graleske, a contractor from Duluth, Minnesota. Their brother, Bill, 19, is an official witness to the wedding officiated by the probate court judge.[v]

Another girl, Lillian “Lillie” Madonna McKinney Ocha Lee[vi] came along in 1928. It was also the year the family moved from Nahma to Big Bay.[vii] Twenty-four years after she gave birth to her first baby, Rose had Herbert Alfred McKinney in 1930.

The year Pauline’s brother was born, 1930, the family was living in a rental home in Powell, Michigan, which sits on the shores of Lake Superior. It’s about 115 miles from Garden, where they used to live. Florence and Bill were no longer living at home. Edward was the oldest sibling at home, a young adult at 22. Rose was caring for children ages 16, 12, 8, 6, 2 and an infant. It was probably a great help to Rose that Pauline finished eighth grade that year and then quit school.[viii] It’s easy imagining them gathering around the radio they owned for entertainment, news and listening to baseball games[ix] in the evenings. Both Pauline’s father, Frank, and brother, Bill, worked as laborers in a sawmill.[x]

HER LIFE BEFORE MILITARY

As the country heads toward the war years, Pauline, 22, is living at home with her family. In 1940, the family still lives in Powell, Michigan. In addition to her parents and Pauline, in the house are William, 32, Edward, 25, Juanita, 17, Monica, 16, Lillie, 11 and Herbert, 9, with the youngest four still being in school. Her oldest sister, Florence, and her husband, Martin, also live in Powell with their five children.[xi]

In 1940, Pauline has her first job of record. On the 1940 census, she is described simply as “a new worker.” All the men in the family are working. Frank is a W.P.A. worker, which is the Workers Progress Administration, an employment program started by President Roosevelt and known especially for its public works. Bill is a lumber scaler in a lumber mill.[xii] Edward is working in Marquette, Michigan, 30 miles away, at the Kerry and Hanson Flooring Company.[xiii]

Sometime after 1940, Pauline moves away from her family, traveling nearly 300 miles to settle in, Marquette County, Wisconsin. She was working as a waitress.[xiv]

Brother Edward enlists as a private at Fort Sheridan, becoming a warrant officer on November 28, 1941.[xv] He becomes a staff sergeant in the army.[xvi]

HER MILITARY STORY

Pauline McKinney, service number A-610299 , served in the Women’s Army Corp, WACS. Pauline enlisted on April 12, 1944 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[xvii] She served in the 1202nd Army Air Force Base Unit, WACS. She would have just missed her baby sister’s wedding. Monica married the following month in May of 1944.[xviii]

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.”

While Pauline was in the early months of her service, her brother, Edward was serving in New Guinea with the U. S. Army Engineers and her brother, Bill, was with the infantry in Germany.

Sgt. William H. McKinney was wounded in Hurtgen Forest in Germany. News was slow to reach Pauline. By the time she heard he was wounded and wrote back home, he had already passed away from his wounds. Bill died on October 8, 1944.[xix] Pauline wrote home saying “I never once thought that could happen to us. The war seems closer than ever now. I feel as you do about Bill not suffering. He wouldn't (have) wanted to live if he was all crippled.”[xx]

Just after his death, in November of 1944, Pauline 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.[xxi]

In May of 1945, just before her death, Pauline learned that her brother, Edward was suffering from malaria. In a letter home, she discussed his illness and discussed with her mother if the family should try to bring home her brother Bill’s body. It was the last they heard from her.[xxii]

HER LAST DAY

Private First Class Alice Pauline McKinney was with 17 other women of the Women’s Army Corp on a normally routine 776- mile[xxiii] flight from Accra, British West Africa to Robert’s Field[xxiv], 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.[xxv]

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

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

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.[xxix] A search was conducted by aircraft and surface craft over a wide area of the French Ivory Coast.[xxx] 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.[xxxi] The Chicago Tribune reported the “[xxxii]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.[xxxiii] News of the missing planes made newspapers across America on June 6th, 1945. In Pauline’s state, the Ironwood Daily Globe in Ironwood, Michigan carried the news[xxxiv] as did the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, the state Pauline lived in before enlisting.[xxxv]

Her parents were notified via telegram. No details were given at that time but a press release from Washington followed with news of the missing plane.

Pauline McKinney was 27.

**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[xxxvi]

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.[xxxvii]

According to Pauline’s page at findagrave.com, her family requested that her state of birth, Michigan, be added to her listing instead of her state of residence, Wisconsin, as was normally done.[xxxviii]

PFC Alice Pauline McKinney is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, an American Battle Monument, North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage Tunisia.

HER GRAVE

Pauline McKinney is remembered as A. Pauline McKinney on the McKinney family grave marker of her parents, Frank, and Nellie R. McKinney at Big Bay Cemetery in Big Bay Michigan. Both Pauline and her brother, Sergeant William H. McKinney, who also died in the war, are remembered. Under the brother and sister’s names, it reads “Killed in Action WWII.”[xxxix]

AFTER THE WAR

Sergeant William H. McKinney, a Purple Heart recipient, is buried at American Military Cemetery, Belgium.[xl]

Edward Theodore McKinney survived his tour of duty in WWII and returned home to marry, have a family and live until the age of 85.

Herbert Alfred McKinney was also a U.S. Veteran. Too young for WWII, he served in the United States Navy in the 1950s.

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/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-01787-00467?pId=83404152

[ii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/9093/images/41326_342300-00174?pId=3394241

[iii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/9093/images/41326_342300-00174?pId=3394241

[iv] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-01787-00467?pId=83404152

[v] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/9093/images/41326_342134-02809?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=2e424480fc28aa76fab658dfeb729fef&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj367&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=5005957

[vi] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/discoveryui-content/view/41606264:60901?indiv=1&tid=&pid=&queryId=e81acbc75e468dc2cb47726de8db2937&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj401&_phstart=successSource

[vii] http://www.in-honored-glory.info/html/stories/ifmckinney.htm

[viii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-01787-00467?pId=83404152

[ix] http://www.in-honored-glory.info/html/stories/ifmckinney.htm

[x] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4609250_00510?pId=90708435

[xi] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-01787-00477?usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=83404928

[xii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-01787-00467?pId=83404152

[xiii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44017_06_00060-01896?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=267956387

[xiv] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56248934/alice-pauline-mckinney

[xv] https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=7535757&tid=&pid=&queryId=2e3f46ebd39e18f5ce271cae34839847&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj382&_phstart=successSource

[xvi] https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8750&h=5137140&ssrc=pt&tid=16855691&pid=29798769069&usePUB=true

[xvii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56248934/alice-pauline-mckinney

[xviii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/discoveryui-content/view/48274625:2190?indiv=1&tid=&pid=&queryId=5ae591e5afeb3576ccfebf944088f5c1&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj397&_phstart=successSource

[xix] https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=4283&h=96385&tid=&pid=&queryId=566f5bb00c69a43d239f316f0c300405&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj374&_phstart=successSource

[xx] http://www.in-honored-glory.info/html/stories/ifmckinney.htm

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

[xxii] http://www.in-honored-glory.info/html/stories/ifmckinney.htm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[xxxiv] https://basic.newspapers.com/image/55050854/?terms=%22Alice%2BP%2BMcKinney%22

[xxxv] https://basic.newspapers.com/image/518719117/?terms=%22Alice%2BMcKinney%22

[xxxvi] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=61634

[xxxvii] https://www.facebook.com/notes/mia-recoveries-locating-lost-wwii-servicemen/the-tragic-loss-of-c-47-44-76406-the-wacs-worst-disaster/10150778536912463/

[xxxviii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56248934/alice-pauline-mckinney

[xxxix] https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2012/121/37239231_133587896800.jpg

[xl] https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=4283&h=96385&tid=&pid=&queryId=566f5bb00c69a43d239f316f0c300405&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj374&_phstart=successSource

Alice Pauline McKinney death listing from findagrave.jpg

Alice Pauline McKinney in uniform from findagrave.jpeg

William H. McKinney photo from findagrave.jpeg

1945 WAC Memorial Service for WACS Missing in Action.jfif

WAC Pin.jpg

Alice P McKinney