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name
TURNER, Due William - Date of
birth
11 March 1922 -
Age
22 - Place of
birth
Columbia County, Arkansas -
Hometown
Columbia County, Arkansas
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
38383369 -
Rank
Private First Class -
Function
unknown -
Unit
333rd Field Artillery Battalion,
C Battery
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
17 December 1944 - Place of
death
Hauptstrasse in Wereth, Belgium
Wereth, Belgium
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| F | 5 | 9 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Artemis Turner (wife)
More information
Pfc Due W. Turner was a farmer.He enlisted in Shreveport, Louisiana on 30 November 1942.
He was taken prisoner German troops during the Battle of the Bulge in the town of Wereth, Belgium on 17 December 1944.
He, along with 10 other prisoners, had their helmets and rifles taken, were forced to sit on the cold and wet ground until dark, and eventually made to run nearly 800 meters out of town, chased by a vehicle driven by the German soldiers. They were then brutally murdered and their bodies dumped in a roadside ditch. This atrocity is known as the Wereth Massacre or the Wereth 11.
An autopsy report on the 11 is ghastly: broken legs and arms, jaws shattered, fingers severed, bayonet wounds to the face and body, and bullet wounds designed to inflict anguish rather than death.
Since 2004, there has been a memorial at the site where these soldiers were murdered.
The complete story of the massacre can be found here: http://www.wereth.org
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Carla Mans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, www.footnote.com
Photo source: Jac Engels