Missing information?

Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?

Submit

Personal info

Full name
WATSON, Joe Neal
Date of birth
2 April 1919
Age
25
Place of birth
Marion County, Illinois
Hometown
Marion County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
7030959
Rank
Sergeant
Function
unknown
Unit
A Company,
1st Battalion,
28th Infantry Regiment,
8th Infantry Division
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
23 February 1945
Place of death
Lendersdorf, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Cary P. Watson (father)
Josephine C. (Neal) Watson (mother)
Harvey Watson (brother)
Clement Watson (brother)
Lorene (Meredith) Watson (wife)

More information

Sgt Joe N. Watson enlisted on May 1940. He was reported missing in action on 23 February 1945, when the boat in which he was crossing the Roer river near Lendersdorf, Germany, capsized while under enemy fire. He served with an anti-aircraft battalion in the Panama Canal zone three years before volunteering for service in the infantry. Sgt Joe N. Watson was officially declared dead on 24 February 1946.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, Carla Mans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - 1920 Census / Watson Family Tree

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.ancestry.com - Watson Family Tree