The Second World War resulted in the deaths of around 85 million people. Additionally, tens of millions more people were displaced. However, amid all the carnage people demonstrated remarkable courage, fortitude, compassion, mercy and sacrifice. We would like to honour and celebrate all of those people. In the War Years Blog, we examine the extraordinary experiences of individual service personnel. We also review military history books, events, and museums. And we look at the history of unique World War Two artefacts, medals, and anything else of interest.
Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial
In this blog post, we visit the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial. The Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial holds the graves of 3, 812 soldiers, sailors and airmen. Another 5, 127 souls are commemorated on the Tablets to the Missing. During a recent visit to the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial I came across the headstones of three members of the US 29th Infantry Division, and decided to investigate.
Known as the “Friendly Invasion”, 1.6 million American service personnel were stationed in the UK by 6 June 1944. Three months after D-Day, 1.2 million of those Americans had been committed to battle. Of course, Americans had been supporting Britain from the very start of the Second World War from the famous Eagle Squadrons to US Navy and Merchant Marine. The US Eighth Airforce bombed targets across Occupied Europe and Germany from August 1942 to May 1945. By the end of the conflict, over 3 million Americans had been sent to Britain. Regrettably, many ground, naval and air force personnel would never return home.
The American Battle Monuments Commission operates and maintains 26 American military cemeteries and 29 monuments across 16 countries. There are two American military cemeteries in the UK, situated in Cambridge and Surrey. The Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial hold the graves of 3, 812 soldiers, sailors and airmen. Another 5, 127 souls are commemorated on the Tablets to the Missing.
During a recent visit to the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, I came across three members of the US 29th Infantry Division. As an associate member of the 29th Division Association, I took photos of each headstone so that I could do a little research about these men. In the case of PFC. Henry R. Dority, Jr, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, it seems likely that he was killed in a training accident or succumbed to some sort of illness. The 116th Infantry Regiment had started amphibious assault training on the English coast by the date of this death, December 26th, 1943.
Henry R. Dority, Jr
YOB: 1920
Home: Halifax, VA
Occupation: Semi-Skilled Painter, Construction or Maintenance
Marital Status: Single with dependents
Enlisted: 3 February 1941
Service No: 20364712
Private First Class, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division
DOD: 26 December 1943
Private Billie Wilson must have been badly wounded during the initial bitter fighting for the beachhead following the D-Day landings. Billie’s unit, Company L, 3rd Battalion, 175th Infantry, landed on Omaha Beach, Normandy, on 7 June 1944, D+1. Their landing was opposed. On 8 June, the 1st battalion passed through and captured La Cambe. However, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were strafed by RAF Typhoon fighter-bombers with six men killed and 16 wounded. It is possible that Billie was wounded during the blue-on-blue attack by Allied planes. There was some opposition at the start of the push into Isigny. The operation did not start until dusk. Once again, it is possible that Billie was wounded and reported missing during the night advance on Isigny. The 3rd Battalion supported by tanks took Isigny only to find it abandoned by the Germans and set on fire by Allied bombing. We do know that Billie was seriously wounded, returned to the UK and subsequently died of his wounds on 12 June 1944. On 9 June, 175th pushed through Isigny and supported by tanks secured a bridge over the Vire River. The regiment then consolidated around Lison on the 9 and 10 June 1944.
Billie Wilson
YOB: 1923
Home: Kentucky
Occupation: General Farmer
Marital Status: Single
Enlisted: 1 June 1942
Service No: 15114820
Private, Company L, 3rd Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division
Reported missing in action on 8 June; dropped rolls on 21 June
DOD: 12 June 1944
Awards: Purple Heart
Frank J. Lapkiewicz joined Company E, 115th Infantry Regiment on 4 September from the replacement depot as a Rifleman. On 16 September, Frank was listed as lightly injured in action (LIA) and moved to the hospital. In November 1944, the 29th Infantry Division began its drive to the Roer River, Germany, blasting its way through Siersdorf, Setterich, Durboslar, and Bettendorf, and reaching the Roer by the end of the month. Frank returned to duty on 14 November. The attack on Durboslar, preceded by an artillery barrage, started on 19 November. The 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry advanced on the town supported by tanks and artillery. In response, the Germans brought up 12 self-propelled 88mm guns. Two Allied airstrikes helped to dislodge the German defenders. Small unit actions continued into the night and the 115th took a number of prisoners. At some point during the fighting on the 19, after just five days back in the line, Frank was seriously wounded. Frank was evacuated back to the UK but died of his wounds on 6 December 1944.
Frank J. Lapkiewicz
YOB: 1915
Home: 1111 Maple Street, Wilmington, Delaware
Parents: Leon & Nellie Lukiewska
Occupation: Skilled worker in manufacturing
Marital Status: Single
Enlisted: 28 February 1944
Service No: 42085191
Private, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division
Wounded during the battle for the German town of Durboslar
DOD: 6 December 1944 (Died of Wounds)
Awards: Purple Heart
In total, the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial contain the graves of around 45 members of the 29th Division’s three infantry regiments. The American Battle Monuments Commission keeps the cemetery in immaculate condition. The visitors centre and helpful staff ensure that the stories of service personnel such as Henry, Billie and Frank are preserved and their sacrifices remembered.
Donald A. McCarthy, A Veteran’s Story
In this post, we tell the story of D-Day veteran Donald A. McCarthy, who served with Headquarters Company, First Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, and landed on Omaha Beach.
In 1999, I was researching the D-Day landings for a radio project. As part of my research, I was lucky enough to start corresponding with 29er veteran, Donald A. McCarthy. Sadly, Donald passed away in 2017 at the grand age of 93. He lived a full and active life. He was rightly proud of his military service. He was Commander of the 29th Division Association from 1995-96 and made 14 trips back to the Normandy beaches and battlefields. In 2014, he was awarded the French Foreign Legion of Honour. As part of the 75th anniversary of D-Day and battle for Normandy, I thought it worth sharing Donald’s own experience of landing on Omaha Beach as he told it to me.
Training for D-Day
I was a member of Headquarters Company, First Battalion, 116th Infantry, 29th Division. I was drafted in July 1943 after graduating from High School. I completed basic infantry training in Alabama, shipped overseas on the Il de France, assigned to 1BN 116t RCT at Ivybridge, 26 January 1944. The RCT (Regimental Combat Team) began intensive training at the Assault Training Centre, Woolacombe Beach on the North West Coast of Devon, and later in April participated in Exercise Fox at Slapton Sands. We were fortunate to have preceded the horrible debacle of Exercise Tiger of 27th April.
Omaha Beach
Again, I was fortunate to have survived the landings of the third wave at Omaha Beach. Although the flotilla was originally scheduled for Dog Green sector of the beach, the British Coxswain and the entire flotilla of LCAs (Landing Craft Assault) from the SS Empire Javelin (Infantry Landing Ship, Large) were carried in an easterly direction by the tide toward the Dog Red sector and the Moulin Draw.
My LCA had taken on water, was swamped and sank about 200 yards from the low watermark and beach obstacles. Several of us swam in behind bodies and attempted to hide behind the obstacles from machine gun and artillery fire. Although the MG fire was intense, the Germans on the bluff were unable to see us because of smoke from burning grass and buildings blowing east from the Vierville (Vierville-sur-Mer) area. The smoke screen provided an opportunity to run from the water’s edge, and the fear of getting run down from incoming landing craft, and find protection from the high water shingle.
Evacuation
Some of us managed to crawl toward the Vierville Draw and were eventually able to move up the draw and reach our objective, the church in Vierville. We came under fire from our own navy and I was ordered to return to the beach and attempt to contact the US Navy beach master. I was hit by an overhead shell burst in my left leg after finding a radio. The radio caught the brunt of the burst and both my leg and the radio became inoperative. A medic dragged me to a makeshift slit trench near the shingle within 100 yards of the draw. The following morning hundreds of us managed to walk towards the Moulin Draw and most were evacuated on LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) back to ports in Britain. Some of us recovered and returned to Normandy within three weeks.
Wounded Again
I was able to re-join my company by early July and participate in the battle for St. Lo and Vire. During the attack at Vire, I came under heavy fire in an abandoned garage. The roof collapsed and debris hit my hand and neck. I did not consider my wounds serious until a form of blood poisoning finished my days with the 116th in France.
After several weeks in a General Hospital at Great Malvern, I was assigned to an Infantry Training Centre at Tidworth Barracks. We ran a training facility for Air Force personnel and shipped them to Holland and Germany as infantrymen.
Home
I remained a PFC (Private First Class) throughout my time in the ETO (European Theatre of Operations). In January 1946, I returned home to Boston and enrolled in college. I got married and worked for Bell Systems for 30 years. My work with Bell Systems centred on defence telecommunications with the US Navy including a period in Vietnam between 1967 and 1968. After leaving Bell, I worked for the Chamber of Commerce in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1969, I returned to England, chartered a small sailboat at Gosport, and sailed to Omaha Beach to recapture the event that changed my life. Since then I have returned to Normandy to take part in D-Day anniversary events with many other 29ers.
-END-
Visit the 29th Division Association website to learn more about the unit’s contribution during World War Two. Additional material courtesy of US Department of Veteran Affairs and Back to Normandy website.