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Personal info

Full name
VAN DE CARR, Clarence Butler
Date of birth
31 July 1923
Age
21
Place of birth
Kinderhook, Columbia County, New York
Hometown
North Chatham, Columbia County, New York

Military service

Service number
32747444
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
B Company,
60th Engineer Combat Battalion,
35th Infantry Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
10 October 1944
Place of death
Ajoncourt, France

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
Plot Row Grave
B 18 30

Immediate family

Members
Roy B. Van De Carr (father)
Ruth (Cantine) Van De Carr (mother)

More information

Pfc Clarence B. Van de Carr was employed on a farm before he enlisted in Albany, New York on 8 February 1943.

On the night of 10 October 1944, B Company suffered the loss of 47 men in an explosion of anti-tank mines at Ajoncourt, France. The third and elements of the first platoon were engaged in a night mine laying operation just north of the town. The squad trucks loaded with mines were parked at a point just south of the town and the mines were being fused and unloaded from the trucks and carried to the mine field. At approximately 2300, a terrific explosion from the leading truck which was loaded with mines caused a sympathetic detonation of a nearby truck load of mines and mines stacked on the ground nearby. Approximately 1,500 mines in all exploded. The entire area immediately became an inferno of exploding mines, small arms ammunition and burning vehicles.

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery in Andilly, France.

He is remembered at the Stuyvesant Falls Cemetery in Stuyvesant Falls, Columbia County, New York.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men / Sarah Youngmann Family Tree, After Action Report 35th Infantry Division, www.findagrave.com – Elsie Scharpf Saar
Photo source: www.findagrave.com – Elsie Scharpf Saar