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Personal info

Full name
SUNGAILA, Joseph Michael
Date of birth
28 May 1909
Age
35
Place of birth
Stulgia, Lithuania
Hometown
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

Military service

Service number
36220655
Rank
Technical Sergeant
Function
unknown
Unit
C Company,
1st Battalion,
325th Glider Infantry Regiment,
82nd Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Died of Wounds
Date of death
12 October 1944
Place of death
Katerbosch-Kiekberg, The Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
K 1 13

Immediate family

Members
Mike Sungaila (father)
Mary Sungaila (mother)
Joseph Kuncewicz (stepfather)
Bernice Sungaila (sister)
Anthony Sungaila (brother)
Jessie E. (Wheeler) Sungaila (wife)

More information

T/Sgt Joseph M. Sungaila enlisted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 30 March 1942.

He was married to Jessie Wheeler, an English girl who worked in a machine shop in Leicester just four weeks earlier. They met at a Red Cross canteen in England. When the picture was taken she had just become the wife of T/Sgt Sungaila.
The wedding took place in a hurry, Sgt Sungaila drove up in a jeep and told Miss Wheeler they were going to be married in a few hours. After seven hours together Sgt Sungaila left to rejoin his unit.

He was reported wounded in action on 2 October 1944.

T/Sgt Sungaila was initially buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Molenhoek, near Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, www.ww2-airborne.us, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / 1920/1930 Census / The Racine Journal-Times, www.bevrijdingsmuseum.nl, WWII Draft Cards

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Kenosha News - 6 November 1944, Evening Standard - 8 November 1944