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Sgt Beecher J. Gates attended high school for four years and was a lineman before he enlisted in Boston, Massachusetts on 20 January 1943.

He was awarded the Silver Star Medal posthumously for his action against an armed enemy on 11 January 1945, in Luxembourg. The citation cited: C Troop was given the mission of capturing Machtum, Luxembourg, and Sgt Gates led an assault team of the 1st platoon. Immediately following an artillery concentration on the town at 0330 he moved his men toward the town. His team encountered a machine gun nest and was halted, but Sgt Gates crawled forward trying to pick off the enemy with his rifle. This proved unsuccessful so he reorganized his team and moved toward the flank of the gun. Seeing it would be too dangerous to move his whole team forward he instructed a Cpl to cover him with fire and he crawled toward the machine gun nest. He killed one enemy with his rifle but his gun jammed. When the man covering him succeeded in killing another enemy he crawled forward and disposed of the remaining enemy with a hand grenade. By his courage and quick action, Sgt Gates opened the way for his team to enter the town. He kept his team in contact with the enemy until the town was cleared fifteen hours later. His ability as a leader was evidenced in the fact that his team suffered no casualties. Sgt Gates, an outstanding non-commissioned officer in his organization, demonstrated by his courage and daring, the importance of personal leadership to the success of the Army of the United States.

He was late killed by machine gunfire.