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Personal info

Full name
WORTMAN, Darwin Ray
Date of birth
24 July 1922
Age
22
Place of birth
Ohio
Hometown
St. Joseph County, Indiana

Military service

Service number
35544341
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
32nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized)
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
17 December 1944
Place of death
Honsfeld, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
E 2 58

Immediate family

Members
Homer E. Wortman (father)
Mary A. (Sharp) Wortman (mother)
Norma Wortman (sister)
Margaret D. Wortman (sister)
Homer A. Wortman (brother)
Pauline L. (Melser) Wortman (wife)
Gale J. Wortman (daughter)

More information

Pfc Darwin Wortman attended Mishawaka High School and was employed by the Studebaker Corporation.

He enlisted on 27 January 1943 at Toledo, Ohio.

On 7 February 1945, the bodies of 19 American soldiers were found in a mass grave in Honsfeld. There is proof that a number of them were executed by members of Kampfgruppe Peiper of the 1st SS Panzerdivision Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. Whether Darwin Wortman was killed during the battle of Honsfeld or was executed can not be said with certainty.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Family Tree

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, www.newspapers.com - The South Bend Tribune - 27 February 1945