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Pvt Leonard Lathe Charles

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Pvt Leonard Lathe Charles Veteran

Birth
Buchanan County, Virginia, USA
Death
24 Jan 1945 (aged 25)
Colmar, Departement du Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France
Burial
Epinal, Departement des Vosges, Lorraine, France Add to Map
Memorial ID
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He was killed in the final days of the battle for the Colmar Pocket. His division the 28th was originally a Pennsylvania National Guard unit. Their division patch was the Keystone for the Keystone State. The patch was red in color and the Germans after the bloody fighting in the Huertgen Forest called the division "The Bloody Bucket". They can best be described as a 'hard luck' outfit as after the horrendous casualties they suffered in the Huertgen Forest they were moved to the a quite area in Luxembourg. They were in fact in the direct line of attack by the Germans at the start of the Battle of the Bulge. were in not for their stand which is described in a book 'Alamo in the Ardennes" the Germans would have taken Bastogne. After the heavy fighting there they were reconstituted and send south to Alsace where they would again take heavy casualties in the final push to take the Colmar Pocket and captured the city of Colmar.
He was killed in the final days of the battle for the Colmar Pocket. His division the 28th was originally a Pennsylvania National Guard unit. Their division patch was the Keystone for the Keystone State. The patch was red in color and the Germans after the bloody fighting in the Huertgen Forest called the division "The Bloody Bucket". They can best be described as a 'hard luck' outfit as after the horrendous casualties they suffered in the Huertgen Forest they were moved to the a quite area in Luxembourg. They were in fact in the direct line of attack by the Germans at the start of the Battle of the Bulge. were in not for their stand which is described in a book 'Alamo in the Ardennes" the Germans would have taken Bastogne. After the heavy fighting there they were reconstituted and send south to Alsace where they would again take heavy casualties in the final push to take the Colmar Pocket and captured the city of Colmar.

Gravesite Details

Entered the Service from Virginia.



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