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Personal info

Full name
CONNEALY, George Conrad
Date of birth
1 April 1916
Age
28
Place of birth
Decatur, Burt County, Nebraska
Hometown
Lewiston, King County, Washington
Religion
Catholic

Military service

Service number
O-1019057
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Tank Commander
Unit
H Company,
2nd Battalion,
66th Armored Regiment,
2nd Armored Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
3 january 1945
Place of death
Rue de l'Isbelle
Erezée, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
H 9 59

Immediate family

Members
George P. Connealy (father)
Terry W. Connealy (brother)
Joseph W. Connealy (brother)
Frances M. Connealy (sister)
Hugh Connealy (brother)
Eleanor E. (Hoye) Connealy (wife)
Michael P. Connealy (son)

More information

Lt Connealy attended college. He was employed at the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle for a short time. In Lewiston he had worked at the Clearwater Mill of Potiatch Foerest Inc., and as a case worker for the Idaho department of public assistance.

He enlisted in Tacoma, Washington on 31 December 1942 and was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he was graduated from OCS as a second lieutenant.

The Sherman tank, he was commanding, had been inching its way down the road when it skidded on the hard-packed ice and snow off the edge of the winding road. Upon doing so, it struck a daisy chain of mines that detonated simultaneously blowing the tank turret clear across the road, killing the entire crew and the GI's of the 84th Infantry Division who had been hitch-hiking on the tank. This tragedy is remembered with a monument at the place of the incident.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Lewiston Morning Tribune - 21 January 1945, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - 1930/1940 census

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, Lewiston Morning Tribune - 21 January 1945, Erwin Verholen