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Personal info

Full name
POWERS, George C
Date of birth
9 September 1920
Age
24
Place of birth
Tennessee
Hometown
Dyersburg, Dyer County, Tennessee

Military service

Service number
14011021
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
HQ Company,
20th Armored Infantry Battalion,
10th Armored Division,
Machine Gun Platoon
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Died of Wounds
Date of death
21 December 1944
Place of death
Château de Roumont
Ochamps, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
G 8 21

Immediate family

Members
Eliza Attaway (mother)
Alfred A. Attaway (half-brother)
Louise L. (Bragg) Powers (wife)
James E. Honey (stepson)
Rita L. Powers (daughter)

More information

Pfc George C. Powers worked in the manufacture of textile before he joined the Regular Army at Fort McClellan, Alabama on 25 July 1940.

Pfc Powers was wounded in action on 19 or 20 December 1944 in Noville. He was evacuated to the 107th Evacuation Hospital that was operating in Château de Roumont in Ochamps, Belgium. He died of chest wounds, caused by shrapnel.

He was subsequently buried as X-125 at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Fosse, Belgium on 23 December 1944. Fingerprints were taken.

In an affidavit signed on 13 February 1945, S/Sgt Elmer C. Ayres and T/Sgt Clarence J. Coles swear they knew him and that he was recognizable thanks to his social security number (410-12-2057) which he had tattooed on his right forearm.

On 14 February 1945, the forms were photographed and the originals sent to the AGO for comparison thereon. If found to be identical, pertinent information was requested, together with return of the forms. On 7 March 1945, the reply was received, and the fingerprints had been found identical.

On 9 January 1948, his wife Louise L. Powers of Covington, Tennessee stated that she did not desire the body to be returned to the United States, but that she wished him to be interred in a permanent military American cemetery overseas.

On 9 February 1949, Louise received a letter of the Quartermaster General stating that the remains of her beloved one had been permanently interred in the US. Military Cemetery of Henri-Chapelle side by side with comrades who also gave their life for their country. Customary military funeral services would be conducted over the grave at the time of burial.

In 2016, Arthur Coppée, who is doing research about the family's chateau, found his dog tag with a shrapnel impact.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record, Family Tree, Marriage license

Photo source: www.findagrave.com – Des Philippet