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Personal info

Full name
RILEY, John W
Date of birth
1923
Age
unknown
Place of birth
Illinois
Hometown
Bensenville, DuPage County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
36749278
Rank
Private First Class
Function
Medical Aidman
Unit
B Company,
53rd Armored Infantry Battalion,
4th Armored Division
Awards
Silver Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
4 December 1944
Place of death
Near Domfessel or Dehlingen, France

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
Plot Row Grave
G 6 14

Immediate family

Members
Ferdinand W. Riley (father)
Anna E. Riley (mother)

More information

John Riley was employed at the Milwaukee railroad.

He was sent overseas on 4 July 1944.

He was awarded the Silver Star Medal posthumously. The citation cited: On December 4, 1944, Company B of the 53rd Armored Infantry Regiment was clearing the enemy from the town of Domfessel, France. Pfc Riley performed his duties with great coolness under fire, treating several wounded men from his company, and pulling them under cover of a building. He then left the building to render further medical aid and was killed by a shell fragment.

He was initially buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Limey, France.

Source of information: André Koch, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - 1930/1940 Census / Headstone and Interment Records, www.newspapers.com - The Daily Herald - 6 April 1945, AAR 53rd AIB July 44 thru May 1945, The Daily Herald 29 December 1944

Photo source:
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