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Personal info

Full name
PENKALA, Alex Mike "Penk"
Date of birth
30 August 1924
Age
20
Place of birth
Bertrand, Berrien County, Michigan
Hometown
St. Joseph County, Indiana

Military service

Service number
35549002
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
E Company,
2nd Battalion,
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
101st Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
10 January 1945
Place of death
Foy, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
I 9 5

Immediate family

Members
Alex M. Penkala (father)
Mary (Kinski) Penkala (mother)
Irene M. Penkala (sister)
Angela Penkala (sister)
Mary Penkala (sister)
Helen Penkala (sister)
Matilda Penkala (sister)
Genevieve Penkala (sister)
Frank Penkala (brother)
Rose Penkala (sister)
Gertrude Penkala (sister)
John Penkala (brother)
Clement Penkala (brother)
Evelyn Penkala (sister)

More information

Pfc Alex M. Penkala Jr. attended Central Catholic High School and was employed at the University of Notre Dame

He enlisted in Toledo, Ohio on 27 February 1943.

He and his comrade Warren H. "Skip" Muck were killed by German artillery fire on the outskirts of the Belgian town of Foy. They were taking cover in a foxhole from the artillery when a direct hit landed on them.

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Grand Failly, France.

He is remembered on a monument at the Bois Jacques in Bastogne, Belgium.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.findagrave.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov,
WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, http://www.ww2-airborne.us

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.findagrave.com – Noelani / Armybratgirl / Historian / Dominique Potier