Corporal Francis J. "Frank" Mellet was an original paratrooper and an assistant machine gunner in Easy Company
Biography[]
Early life[]
Mellet was born on July 7, 1920 to Michael Bartholomy Mellett and Mary A. Mellett in Long Island, New York. He had 2 brothers, Michael John Mellett and John E. Mellett.
Around 1942, Mellet joined the airborne.
WWII[]
Mellet trained with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, at Camp Toccoa, and was assigned to the 3rd Platoon as an assistant machine gunner to Corporal Walter Gordon.
After training at Fort Benning, and Camps Mackall and Shanks, he headed to Aldbourne England to await the invasion of Europe.
He landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. When he landed, he immediately threw away the tripod to his .30 cal. Machine gun. He first ran into Ed Tipper, and then was able to group with Walter Gordon, Floyd Talbert, Forrest Guth, John Eubanks, David Morris, Daniel West, C.T Smith, and Arthur Youman, as well as several other paratroopers.[1] After meeting up in Ste. Marie-du-Monte, Mellet helped secure the town of Carentan, and survived the rest of the campaign.
He then landed in Holland on September 17. After the campaign, Mellet, who had never been wounded during the previous two campaigns, expressed to others that he was concerned that when he was eventually hit, it would be fatal.
While taking the town of Foy on January 13th, 1945, Mellet was killed instantly when he was shot through the head by a sniper. This same sniper also killed Kenneth Webb and Carl Sowosko before being killed himself by Shifty Powers.
Eight weeks after the death of Frank, his younger brother, John, was killed in action in Luzon, Phillipines on 12th March, 1945 at the age of 22.
His body was transported back to New York where it is buried at Long Island National Cemetery with his parents and his brothers.[2]
The real Francis Mellet
Band of Brothers[]
Though he has no speaking parts, Mellet is seen extensively throughout the series, played by Alex Sabga. It should be noted that Sabga appears to be playing Paul C. Rogers during the first episode of the series, Currahee, as noted by Sabga wearing a uniform with the name tag "Rogers" throughout the episode.