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name
KERLEY, Herman Lee - Date of
birth
23 July 1923 -
Age
21 - Place of
birth
McDowell County, West Virginia -
Hometown
McDowell County, West Virginia
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
15055640 -
Rank
Private -
Function
unknown -
Unit
I Company,
3rd Battalion,
39th Infantry Regiment,
9th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
1 February 1945 - Place of
death
In the vicinity of Drzewica, Poland
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Thomas J. Kerley (father)
Dora (Parsons) Kerley (mother)
Orville H. Kerley (brother)
Bernice R. Kerley (sister)
Thelma J. Kerley (sister)
Mildred M. Kerley (sister)
Margaret Kerley (sister)
Rosa Kerley (sister)
More information
Pvt Herman L. Kerley was employed by the New River and Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company.He joined the Regular Army at Fort Thomas, Kentucky on 7 September 1940. He trained at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and was sent overseas in 1942.
He took part in the five major campaigns of his unit: North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Belgium.
Pvt Kerley had been awarded the Bronze Star Medal twice. The first time for actions during the battle for Bizerte, Tunisia. About the second award, he wrote a letter home on 18 August 1944, saying: ""I have been awarded the Bronze Star. I took four Frenchman taught them the use of a German rifle and we captured what was left of a German 2nd Batt. HQ about a 150. I fired my rifle one time and it wouldn't fire any more. Lucky I had a lot of German pistols I had picked up before."
He was taken prisoner on 10 October 1944.
Information reveals that the German guards forced the American and Russian Prisoners of War to leave Stalag III-C near the village of Drzewica, Poland on 31 January 1945. They had marched only a short distance when they were caught between Russian and German cross fire and were killed by gunfire from Russian tanks.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - Family Trees, www.newspaperarchive.com - Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Photo source: www.findagrave.com, Bernice Church and Sonjia Sutphin