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Personal info

Full name
ATENCIO, Ernest
Date of birth
1911
Age
unknown
Place of birth
Walsenburg, Huerfano County, Colorado
Hometown
Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County, California

Military service

Service number
17087845
Rank
Private
Function
unknown
Unit
G Company,
2nd Battalion,
301st Infantry Regiment,
94th Infantry Division,
3rd Platoon
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
7 February 1945
Place of death
Bannholz Woods, north of Sinz, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
C 5 16

Immediate family

Members
Julian Atencio (father)
Ynastia (Mondragon) Atencio )mother)
Amada Atencio (sister)
Sally Atencio (sister)
Domitila Atencio (sister)
William Atencio (brother)
Melquias Atencio (brother)
Josephine Atencio (sister)
Jose L. Atencio (brother)
Joseph A. Atencio (brother)
Angelita Atencio (sister)
Frank Atencio (brother)
Jennie (Valdez) Atencio (wife)

More information

Pvt Ernest Atencio was a miner before he volunteered for the Army of the United States at Fort Logan, Colorado on 20 December 1942.

Visibility within the woods was greatly reduced by the smoke which was drifting down from Munzingen Ridge. As the riflemen of the 3rd platoon continued into Bannholz they encountered two camouflaged enemy tanks concealed in the underbrush. A bazooka team composed of Pfc Curtis C. Darnell and Pvt Ernest Atencio worked its way to within thirty yards of one of these vehicles and opened fire. Their first round was a hit, the tank began to withdraw. A second round was fired and a puff of smoke on the hull-line marked the point of impact. Still the tank continued to move. Machine gun fire from the second panzer raked the area. Atencio was wounded in the neck and Pfc Stanley Bock took his place as loader.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Pineda Family Tree / U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men / Colorado County Marriage Records, http://www.94thinfdiv.com, https://archive.org/stream/HistoryOfThe94thInfantryWWII
Photo source: www.findagrave.com – Luxembourg American Cemetery