Branch of Service
U.S. Army
Hometown
Painesville, Ohio
Honored By
Pearl Thomas
Served from 1942 to 1945 in the 37th Engineering Battalion in the European Theater of Operations. He originally trained with a unit bound for the Pacific Theater of Operations, but he came down with tonsillitis just before shipping out and was reassigned. He landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 and his landing craft came under such heavy fire that it had to back off from its original destination. Once ashore, he kept busy with his bulldozer, clearing the way for other vehicles, plowing up land mines, and building landing docks for subsequent waves of the invasion.