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name
GEER, Joseph White Jr - Date of
birth
19 May 1920 -
Age
24 - Place of
birth
Baltimore, Maryland -
Hometown
Westhampton Beach, Suffolk County, New York
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-429565 -
Rank
Second Lieutenant -
Function
unknown -
Unit
110th Infantry Regiment,
28th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Died non-Battle - Date of
death
28 March 1945 - Place of
death
Near Höllrich, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| H | 20 | 22 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Joseph W. Geer (father)
Katherine E. (Hamilton) Geer (mother)
Frances L. Geer (sister)
James H. Geer (brother)
Marian A. (Loibi) Geer (wife)
Patricia K. Geer (daughter)
More information
2nd Lt Joseph W. Geer Jr. attended Williams College with the Class of 1944 before he enlisted at Fort Crockett, Texas on 5 August 1941.He was taken prisoner on 20 December 1944 in the vicinity of Clervaux, Luxembourg and was held in captive in Oflag XIII-B.
The POW camp was the objectif of the daring raid of Task Force Baum, set up by General Patton to liberate his son-in-law.
After the camp was overrun, Lt Geer had found a space on the second American tank of the column when the task force was getting ready to leave the camp and head back to Allied lines.
Nearing Höllrich in the black of night, the column was ambushed by German veteran soldiers of he German Infantry Combat School. The tank on which Lt Geer was riding was hit by a shell from a Tiger tank, destroying it and killing several men who were riding on it, including Lt Geer.
His daughter Patricia Katherine Geer was born on 13 March 1945.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, Raf Dyckmans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – Word War II Prisoners of War / WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com – Cunningham Gilbert Andrus Family Tree / 1940 Census, http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org - The Country Review
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Williams College Yearbook 1941