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T/5 James E. Luers attended Oliver High School and Allegheny Vocational School and worked for Crucible Steel Co. before he enlisted in 1942. He was overseas for four and a half months.

He was one of the victims of Malmedy massacre when German SS soldiers of the 1st Panzer Division captured over 100 American soldiers at Baugnez Crossroads outside Malmedy, Belgium, on 17 December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge and, under orders to take no prisoners, placed them in an open field and then machine gunned them. When the machine guns stopped, the SS went through the field where some victims were still alive and systematically finished them off with pistols at short range leaving 84 soldiers dead when they had finished. Fortunately, when the machine guns first started shooting, a number of soldiers ran and some managed to escape and tell the story of how the Germans had treated the others who had not survived.

His brother, Pvt Aloysius A. Luers, also served in the Army and was wounded in action in France on 1 February 1945.