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name
DEACON, Dowling Benjamin - Date of
birth
13 March 1916 -
Age
27 - Place of
birth
Merchantville, Camden County, New Jersey -
Hometown
Pennsauken, Camden County, New Jersey
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O1300291 -
Rank
Second Lieutenant -
Function
unknown -
Unit
L Company,
3rd Battalion,
143rd Infantry Regiment,
36th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Died non-Battle - Date of
death
17 October 1943 - Place of
death
Spittal an der Drau, Austria
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| A | 13 | 39 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Clifford K. Deacon (father)
Ada E. (Benjamin) Deacon (mother)
Clifford K. Deacon Jr. (brother)
Elizabeth S. Deacon (sister)
Maragret L. Deacon (sister)
More information
2nd Lt Dowling B. Deacon attended college.He enlisted in Trenton, New Jersey on 6 March 1941.
He was taken prisoner on 14 September 1943 at Salerno in Italy.
On 16 October 1943, Lt Deacon and Lt McGaffin of the South African Army, were taking their daily exercise by strolling up and down the camp promenade. For some unknown reason, a crazy sentry on duty ordered everyone to go inside the building, threatening the group with his poised rifle. Through curiosity, Lt Deacon and Lt McGaffin halted at the fence to ask the sentry what the excitement was all about. The sentry wheeled about, drew his gun on Lt McGaffin, who immediately threw up his hands in defense. The German, jabbering something about his folks at home having been bombed, drew the rifle on Lt Deacon, leveled it and cold-bloodedly shot him. The bullet entered his chest, penetrating one of his indentification tags. Lt Deacon died the next day.
Source of information: André Koch, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record / World War II Prisoners of War Data File, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men / 1920/1930/1940 Census / Colonel Doyle R. Yardley, Home Was Never Like This: The Yardley Diaries, A World War II American POW Perspective, edited by Charles A. Turnbo (Evergreen, Co: Yardley Enterprises, 2002), pages 90-91
Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Denise Kellam, www.ancestry.com - NJ_Native / www.newspapers.com - The Morning Post - 9 June 1945