Memorial

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Capt Burton W. Benz graduated from Kenmore High School in 1934. He also was a graduate of Michigan State College with the class of June 1939.

He entered the service in July 1941, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant at Fort Knox, Kentucky in July 1942. He was sent overseas in September 1943.

On 27 August 1944, the city of Coulommiers was full of cheering civilians, celebrating their liberators, when the Germans attempted a counter-attack. For a quarter of an hour, the city was the object of a powerful artillery bombardement.

At the corner of the rue Bertrand Flornoy and the rue du Général Leclerc, Capt Benz was directing tanks into position to battle a German tank or anti-tank gun when he was hit by enemy machinegun fire from the Panzer, cutting off his two legs above the ankles.

Pfc Charles F. Goldstone, a medic attached to the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, rushed towards him but was fatally shot in his turn. The two men were rushed to the local hospital but no help could rescue them.

They were both initially buried at the community cemetery of Coulommiers the next day.

Later they were reburied at the Temporary American Military Cemetery Solers, France, before they were given their final resting place at Epinal Cemetery.

They are both remembered on a plaque on the wall of a house at 44, rue Bertrand Flornoy.

Just before Capt Benz was evacuated to the hospital, he gave his Colt 45 pistol to a resistance fighter, Monsieur Boissy, who later gave it to a Monsieur Duru of the nearby village of Faremoutier. Some time later, his wife forced her husband to get rid of the pistol. To avoid further discussion with his wife, he cut out a can of oil, locked the Colt in it with grease, welded the can with tin and threw it all into the Morin river. Most likely, the can is still in the river.