Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
LANCE, Harry Ernest Jr - Date of
birth
11 December 1925 -
Age
19 - Place of
birth
Des Arc, Prairie County, Arkansas -
Hometown
Newport, Jackson County, Arkansas
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
38661040 -
Rank
Sergeant -
Function
unknown -
Unit
E Company,
2nd Battalion,
406th Infantry Regiment,
102nd Infantry Division
-
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
26 April 1945 - Place of
death
In the vicinity of Havelberg-Sandau, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Harry E. Lance (father)
Corbin M. (Cravens) Lance (mother)
Geneva A. (Womack) Lance (wife)
More information
Sgt Lance married Geneva Alene Womack on 15 January 1944 in Newport, Jackson County, Arkansas.He was part of a patrol which was to cross the Elbe River at Havelberg to pick up German prisoners. The patrol was enveloped by SS troops in armored cars and of the original total of twenty one men, records reveal that sixteen men were taken prisoner and later released. Field investigations conducted in the area on 30 March, 22 November and 18 December 1948 failed in the recovery of the remains of two men, Sgt Lance and Pvt Nick Botsis who is also remembered at the Walls of the Missing at Margraten. Two other patrol members, Robert Bender and Kurtiss P. Holmquist are interred at Ardennes.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, Astrid van Erp, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - WWII Draft Cards Young Men / Marriage Index, IDPF of Nick Botsis
Photo source: Peter Schouteten