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Personal info

Full name
STEFFY, George Howard
Date of birth
13 January 1923
Age
21
Place of birth
Mohnton, Berks County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
33497306
Rank
Technician Fourth Grade
Function
unknown
Unit
B Battery,
285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
17 December 1944
Place of death
The field next to the N62, near the crossroads "Five Points"
Baugnez, Belgum

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
A 9 26

Immediate family

Members
Benjamin F. Steffy (father)
Mamie E. (Schnader) Steffy (mother)
Etta M. Steffy (sister)
Goldie A. Steffy (sister)
Bernice I. Staffy (sister)
Mabel E. Steffy (sister)

More information

T/4 George H. Steffy enlisted on 20 January 1943 and trained at Camp Gruber and Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was sent overseas in August 1944.

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 name is mentioned on the monument on the opposite side of the road.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Veteran Compensation Application File / Church Record / 1930 Census, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/malmedy_massacre.htm

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Intelligencer Journal - 7 December 1945, www.tracesofwar.com