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Personal info

Full name
SHIELDS, Thomas Samuel
Date of birth
29 December 1924
Age
20
Place of birth
Mansfield City, Tioga County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
33624275
Rank
Corporal
Function
unknown
Unit
327th Glider Infantry Regiment,
101st Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
9 April 1945
Place of death
Düsseldorf, Nordhrein-Westfalen, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
E 18 8

Immediate family

Members
Samuel K. Shields (father)
Anna J. (Ashfield) Shields (mother)
Lydia M. Shields (sister)
Thelma A. Shields (sister)
Amelia A. Shields (sister)
Lorraine M. Shields (sister)
Kathryn Shields (sister)
William Shields (brother)
Margaret Shields (sister)

More information

Cpl Thomas S. Shields was employed at the Reading Railroad Company.

He enlisted in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 26 April 1943 and was sent overseas 1 December 1944.

A letter from his commanding officer, Col. Joseph Harper, reported that Cpl. Shields was on a patrol with a mission to cross the Rhine to take prisoners and obtain intelligence. The mission was completed and while crossing the river on return the boat overturned and Cpl Shields drowned.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, Erwin Derhaag, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com,
www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/327/327_honor_st.html, www.ancestry.com - Pennsylvania Find a Grave Index / Shields Family Tree, Evening Herald (Shenandoah, Pennsylvania), WWII Draft Card

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, www.ancestry.com - Shields Family Tree