World War II Honoree

George E. Plott

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Waynesville, North Carolina

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Captain. On October 16, 1939, he entered the United States Army as a member of the Kansas Army National Guard. Deployed to England with the 66th Infantry ‘Black Panther’ Division where he served as Commander of Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion an element of the 262nd Infantry Regiment. Sunday December 24, 1944 while crossing the English Channel during his deployment from Southampton, England to France, aboard the SS Leopoldville, the troopship came under attack by the German Submarine, U-486. The Submarine Commander fired two torpedoes, striking the ship, which began to sink slowing in the frigid waters five miles from the coastal shoreline of Cherbourg, France with a loss of 802 lives. Reported missing in action, lost at sea Monday, December 25, 1944 and in remembrance of the Brave, his name is recorded in the Tablets of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery located at Colleville-sur-Mer, France. His family has placed a Memorial Marker in his memory at the Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesville, North Carolina. The Captain received the following awards posthumously, Soldier’s Medal and the Purple Heart. The Soldier’s Medal awarded for an act of valor in a non-combat situation. He was an American Patriot, who so gallantly gave his life in the defense of his country.