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Personal info

Full name
KETTLER, Kenneth V
Date of birth
1 July 1910
Age
34
Place of birth
Boone County, Indiana
Hometown
Shelbyville, Shelby County, Indiana

Military service

Service number
35901177
Rank
Private
Function
unknown
Unit
318th Infantry Regiment,
80th Infantry Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Died of Wounds
Date of death
1 October 1944
Place of death
Oschatz, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 44 25

Immediate family

Members
Charles F. Kettler (father)
Grace M. (Martin) Kettler (mother)
Emma M. Kettler (sister)
Goldie Kettler (sister)
Charles R. Kettler (brother)
Franklin F. Kettler (brother)
William R. Kettler (brother)
James E. Kettler (brother)
Raymond H. Kettler (brother)
Ellen L. Kettler (sister)
Rae Kettler (wife)
Robert R. Kettler (son)

More information

Pvt Kenneth V. Kettler attended high school for one year and was a foreman.

He enlisted in Indianapolis, Indiana on 21 December 1943.

He was reported wounded in action on 22 September 1944 in the vicinity of Nancy, France.

He was left for dead by his retreating unit and found by men of the German Volkssturm on 23 September 1944.

He was transported by train to Stalag IV-G where he died on 1 October, two days after his arrival and he was buried at the local cemetery.

In 1949 the Army wrote to his widow, informing her that her husband's remains were identified and reburied at Ardennes, awaiting her instructions about his final resting place. After consulting Pvt Kettler's mother, they decided to leave him in Belgium.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record / World War II Prisoners of War Data File, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil / Brown Family Tree / Indiana Births, http://wwii-pows.mooseroots.com/l/137696/Kenneth-Kettler

Photo source: Jac Engels, Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History - courtesy of Kathy McDermott