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Personal info

Full name
EAGAN, Paul
Date of birth
unknown
Age
unknown
Place of birth
unknown
Hometown
Malone, Franklin County, New York

Military service

Service number
O-2055155
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
unknown
Unit
26th Infantry Regiment,
1st Infantry Division
Awards
Silver Star,
Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
3 November 1944
Place of death
South of Schevenhütte, Hurtgen Forest, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
A 8 1

Immediate family

Members
Rita (St. Mary) Eagan (wife)

More information

Lieut. Paul Eagan, who was stationed with the 26th Infantry at Plattsburgh Barracks, was killed in action in Germany. He was a veteran of action in five countries of the Mediterranean and European areas of operation. He accompanied the 26th Infantry to Fort Devens more than two years ago. Embarking for duty overseas he was at first stationed in England. He accompanied the regiment in the North African campaign, fought in Tunisia, and later in Sicily, Italy and Southern France.
Awarded the Silver Star for distinguishing himself by gallantry and intrepidity in action, he also held the Purple Heart for wounds received in Sicily. For a time he was a prisoner of the Nazis in Sicily, but escaped and after hiding for three days in a cave, he rejoined his outfit.
A discription of the action in which he was wounded was relayed to his wife by his first sergeant in his company who returned to the States. The sergeant said that, during the fighting in Sicily, Lieut. Eagan, seeing his company nearly wiped out by the Nazis, exposed himself to the Germans in throwing a hand grenade into an enemy machine gun nest and was shot through the shoulder. After his escape from the prison camp he was found to be still suffering from his wound.

Source of information: André Koch, Astrid van Erp, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com, http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org - Plattsburgh Press-Republican

Photo Source: Peter Schouteten