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name
ROELOFS, Chester A - Date of
birth
9 June 1918 -
Age
26 - Place of
birth
Prinsburg, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota -
Hometown
Kandiyohi County, Minnesota
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
37167692 -
Rank
Technician Fifth Grade -
Function
Driver -
Unit
B Battery,
58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
19 December 1944 - Place of
death
Longvilly, Belgium
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes - Tablets of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Henry J. Roelofs (father)
Jennie Roelofs (mother)
Everett Roelofs (brother)
Annie Roelofs (sister)
William Roelofs (brother)
Belle Roelofs (sister)
Gertrude Roelofs (sister)
Louis Roelofs (brother)
Jeanette Roelofs (sister)
Howard Roelofs (brother)
Caroline Roelofs (sister)
Helen Roelofs (sister)
Gordon Roelofs (brother)
More information
T/5 Chester Roelofs joined the army at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. He went missing in action on 19 December 1944 and has been pronounced dead by the War Department on 20 December 1945.He was the driver of a M7 self propelled gun. According to the After Action Report of the battalion, two M7's were lost in their position at Longvilly due to direct fire of enemy tanks. It is very plausible that T/5 Roelofs was a crew member of one of these M7's. The family heard from Chester Roelofs' friend, serving in that unit, that T/5 Roelofs changed from one M7 to another when it got hit. Then also the second M7 got hit, setting it and the crew afire.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Astrid van Erp, WWIIMemorial, Ancestry - Roelofs Family Tree, After Action Report 58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, Sherry Shochenmaier
Photo source: Astrid van Erp, Sharilyn Schochenmaier