Albert P. PLESEC
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Source : Sonny Ver
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NUMBER OF SERVICE | 36231829 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
AGE | 31 yo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
DATE OF BIRTH | 3 September 1915 à Milwaukee, WISCONSIN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
ENLISTMENT STATE | WISCONSIN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
FAMILY |
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RANK | Corporal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
FONCTION | Tankiste | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
JOB BEFORE ENLISTEMENT | Skilled mechanics and repairmen, n.e.c. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
DATE of ENLISTEMENT | 14 January 1942 Fort Sheridan ILLINOIS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
COMPANY | Company | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
BATTALION | Battalion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
REGIMENT | 32nd Armored Regiment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
DIVISION | 3rd Armored Division | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
DATE OF DEATH | 4 September 1944 |
Source : Sonny Ver
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STATUS | KIA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
PLACE OF DEATH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CEMETERY TEMPORARY | CEMETERY COMMUNAL of Binche | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
CEMTERY TEMPORARY of Neuville en Condroz N°1202 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CEMETERY | ARDENNES AMERICAN CEMETERY of Neupré | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
GRAVE |
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DECORATION |
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STORY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By Sonny Ver
Why will he tell me?
Well, just because my grandmother always told me an anecdote from World War II, it was that an American hugged her in September 1944 and offered her a piece. of chocolate. The next day he was accidentally killed in our area. This is where my research began ... Here is his story! Albert was born September 3, 1915 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Son of an Austrian immigrant father who arrived in the USA on March 22, 1904 in New York and naturalized in 1932, from a Yugoslav immigrant mother as well. In the 1930s, they lived in the small village of Saukville in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin (about 800 residents). His siblings consisted of a brother Frank, four years his senior, and a little sister Vera, born in 1917. In 1937, his father was hit by a car and died there. On January 13, 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, while working as a mechanic at A. O. Smith Corp in Milwaukee, Albert decided to join the US ARMY with the armored troops. His brother enlisted on November 24 of the same year in the parachute troops of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne. On November 28, 1942, he married Joyce Westfalen. Three days later, he returned to Camp Pickett in Virginia with his unit, F Company of the 32nd Armored Regiment.
On September 5, 1943, Albert and his regiment embarked for England at Codfort in Wiltshire. In January 1944, he sent his family a photo dressed in Scottish (it was quite common for GI's to send this kind of souvenir photo). On June 23, 1944, he set foot in Omaha Beach in Normandy. On June 25, the men of the 32nd regiment had their baptism of fire. The Battle of Normandy will rage on both sides until August 21. Then the hunt begins to the Belgian border, "the battle of Mons". |
Source : Sonny Ver
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Source : Sonny Ver
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On September 3, Second Lieutenant Chester H. Jordan of Company K of the 47th Infantry Regiment was ordered to take the town of Binche with the Shermans of Company F of the 32nd Armored Regiment where Corporal Albert P. Plesec serves there as a tank gunner. . Approaching the small medieval town, the Germans are forced to abandon one of their tanks and fall back. After a cautious advance, all the Binchois population waiting for them in the center, fall on them! It's party time in Binche! They are covered with flowers, have their offer of bottles of wine, beer ... Lieutenant Jordan will write that on their arrival in the city one of their trucks was loaded with more than 150 bottles of wine that were offered to them! The lieutenant, who commands the entire detachment, positions the tanks on the main axes of the city in order to create "roadblocks". Albert and his crew are sent to the border of the small neighboring village of Epinois. There, a few exchanges of fire with a German tank which fell back, at a place called "the coast of Mouscou" in Leval (chemin Boussart), resounded. The Sherman will take up position at the entrance to the current rue des sinistrés. Albert and one of the team members will walk to the neighboring village (Ressaix). It is at the current rue du Masy in Ressaix that he will take my grandmother in his arms and offer her a piece of chocolate ... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
The next day, September 4, Corporal Plesec performs maintenance on the tank gun. When handling, the blow will accidentally come off and the recoil of the breech will hit the right side of its head. The anti-tank bus will pass through a house without causing any casualties. Immediately after the incident, he was taken by his fighting comrades to Saint-Pierre hospital in Binche. On his arrival, it is unfortunately too late. The corporal succumbed to his injuries (the day after his 29th birthday). Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus entrusted her companions with her personal effects, namely: “a wrist watch, his wedding ring and his identity plates! ".
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Source : Sonny Ver
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Source : Sonny Ver
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3rd ARMORED DIVISION - SPEARHEAD
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SOURCE INFORMATION & SOURCE PHOTO | Sonny Ver - Abmc.gov - Aad.archives.gov - Findagrave.com |
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PROGRAMMER | Henri, Garrett, Clive, Frédéric & Renaud |