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Personal info

Full name
HELD, Richard Charles
Date of birth
30 January 1922
Age
22
Place of birth
Pennsylvania
Hometown
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
33696835
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
I Company,
3rd Battalion,
378th Infantry Regiment,
95th Infantry Division
Awards
Silver Star,
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
18 November 1944
Place of death
Near Metz, France

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
Tablets of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Karl H. Held (father)
Florence A. Held (mother)
Florence J. Held (sister)

More information

On the order of General Kittel, on the morning of 18 November 1944, the Pont du Sauvage was blown up at the moment men of I Company began to cross it. Fifteen men were killed.

For his action that day, Pfc Held was awarded the Silver Star Medal posthumously.

Together with the other killed members of his unit, he is remembered on a plaque at the bridge.

Pfc Richard C. Held is remembered at the Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / 1940 Census, http://mathieu.gitzhofer.free.fr/irongb.php
Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Frogman / Debbie Day,
https://www.uswarmemorials.org/admin/images/memorials/1523280596plaquesauvage.jpg
www.ancestry.com - U.S. School Yearbooks Allerdice High School