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Personal info

Full name
LAKES, Carl "Ducky"
Date of birth
29 April 1924
Age
20
Place of birth
Cleves, Hamilton County, Ohio
Hometown
Montgomery County, Ohio

Military service

Service number
15338286
Rank
Technician Fourth Grade
Function
unknown
Unit
Company HQ,
2nd Battalion,
508th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
82nd Airborne Division,
Communication Section
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
29 January 1945
Place of death
Medendorf, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
E 2 53

Immediate family

Members
John R. Lakes (father)
Nanny L. (Fowler) Lakes (mother)
Glendon L. Lakes (brother)

More information

T/4 Carl Lakes was a star athlete at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans (OSSO) Home in Xenia, Ohio. He won letters in football, basketball and track.

After graduating from high school, he volunteered for the Army of the United States at Fort Thomas in Newport, Kentucky on 2 November 1942.

He took part in the operation on D-Day where he was wounded in the leg by a shell fragment, for which he was hospitalized in England. For this wound he was awarded the Purple Heart Medal for the first time.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, NARA, National WWII Memorial, WW2 Airborne, www.newspapers.com - Dayton Daily News 29 July 1944, Lancaster Eagle Gazette 7 September 1944

Photo source: Jac Engels, Coert Franssen