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Personal info

Full name
UPTON, Benjamin Sylvester
Date of birth
6 April 1925
Age
19
Place of birth
Clemenceau, Yavapai County, Arizona
Hometown
Spokane, Spokane County, Washington

Military service

Service number
39419451
Rank
Private
Function
Rifleman
Unit
D Company,
1st Battalion,
508th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
82nd Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
22 September 1944
Place of death
Wylerbaan, the Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
L 10 2

Immediate family

Members
Eldridge H. Upton (father)
Lendora A. (Major) Upton (mother)
Marjorie A. Upton (sister)
Eldridge J. Upton (brother)
Melvin J. Upton (brother)

More information

Pvt Benjamin S. Upton enlisted in Sacramento, California on 12 October 1943.

It was while the plantoon was dug-in on the Wylerbaan, which is a small road (mostly behind hedges that were plant along the side of the road) that Pvt Upton was killed with his buddy Tuttle. There was a farm site in front of their position (which was nothing more than a fox hole behind the hedges). It wasn't certain what their target was (probably some enemy movement at the farm site), but they fired a couple of rounds from the Bazooka. A little more than a half a mile to the front was the German Reichwald Forest, which was crawling with German soldiers, tanks and field guns. Apparently a German tank or field gun observed the flash from the bazooka. An 88 mm zeroed in on their position, which received a direct hit setting off the bazooka ammunition that was stored near or in the hole. Needless to say, neither of those two men suffered.

Source of information: www.wwiimemorial.com, www.specialforcesroh.comwww.ancestry.com - U.S. Census Records, 1930 & 1940, Arizona & California, Utah, Military Records, 1861-1970, U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, Family Trees-Bennie Sylvester Upton

Photo source: www.specialforcesroh.com, Peter Schouteten