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name
KLINGER, Randall - Date of
birth
24 August 1919 -
Age
26 - Place of
birth
Steelton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania -
Hometown
Steelton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
33162614 -
Rank
Technician Fifth Grade -
Function
Tank Driver -
Unit
D Company,
40th Tank Battalion,
7th Armored Division
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Finding of Death - Date of
death
8 September 1945 - Place of
death
On the road from Pierrevillers to Maizieres-les-Metz, France
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg - Tablets of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Samuel R. Klinger (father)
Martha P. Klinger (mother)
Elizabeth R. Klinger (Haas) (sister)
Abraham Klinger (brother)
More information
T/5 Randall Klinger graduated from Steelton High School in 1937, and was employed by the fire department of the Bethlehem Steel Company in Steelton.He enlisted in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania on 13 March 1942.
On 7 September 1944, a light tank (M-5) of D Company, on a road reconnaissance from Ste-Marie-aux-Chenes to Maizieres-les-Metz, France, was ambushed and apparantly hit by a German grenade and/or panzerfaust. The tank did not burn. All of the 4-man crew escaped the knocked out tank and made it back to their lines, except one man (the driver T/5 Randall Klinger). German forces kept the crew from aiding Klinger, whose remains have never been recovered and identified. More information about the possible identification of T/5 Klinger can be found here: https://www.7tharmddiv.org/40d-1944-09-07.htm
T/5 Klinger was officially declared dead one day and one year after he was reported missing in action.
Source of information: André Koch, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - 1920/1930/1940 Census / U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men 1940-1947 / Pennsylvania Veteran Compensation Application Files WWII 1950-1966 / https://www.7tharmddiv.org
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.newspapers.com - Harrisburg Telegraph - 27 September 1944