Memorial

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Pfc Ben Montoyawas a laborer before he enlisted on 23 November 1942 at Fort Morgan, Colorado. He trained at Camp Maxey, Texas and Camp Polk in Louisiana.

Don Van Vleet sent us the following account from his father, who was with Pfc Montoya when he was killed:
"My Dad, Pfc Donald A. Van Vleet was with Ben when he was killed on November 30, 1944. Company B, as part of the first battalion, had attacked the little village of Welz. They went to the left of the buildings and dug a two-man hole. Ben was in the hole manning the gun. Dad was lying in a tank track alongside. They were overlooking the town of Linnich and the Roer River. Dad recalled that he heard the swoosh of a shell, presumably a mortar shell, coming in. He turned his head. The explosion killed Ben and gravely wounded Dad. When he regained consciousness and his sight, Ben and the machine gun were nowhere to be seen. A Sgt Epps helped evacuate Dad using a door from a farmhouse. He would recover after five months in the hospital."