Memorial

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Pfc Robert S. Truell enlisted in Trenton, New Jersey on 3 April 1941.
When Bob was age 24 he left Perry County, Tennessee and ventured east to look for work as a musician. He met Shorty Cook in Salisbury Maryland in the late 30´s and together they formed the group The Downhomers. The Downhomers played regularly on WSNJ radio in Bridgeton, New Jersey. In 1941 Bob left Bridgeton after enlisting in the US Army. His unit was deployed to Ireland in 1944 and later he crossed over Utah Beach in Normandy, France about a week after D-Day invasion. His unit fought throughout France and Belgium and finally made their way across the German border in October. The unit fought in one of the bloodiest battles the US had ever fought, the Battle of Heurtgen Forest. The battle was won when US forces finally stormed the town of Heurtgen in November of 1944. However, Bob was killed in action just a few days later on December 2, 1944. He was eight days shy of his 33rd birthday.
Bob Truell grew up in Perry County, Tennessee on Brush Creek. He and my grandmother were schoolmates and friends for many years. In 1935 my grandmother Earline (Qualls) Scott became pregnant by Bob Truell and had his baby (my father, Robert Qualls) out of wedlock. Legal action was taken against my grandfather by Charlie Qualls (my great-grandfather) and he was forced to leave the county. My grandmother was left to raise my dad by herself, moving in with her older sister Irene (Qualls) Ayers and her husband Tom not far from the Charlie B. Qualls homeplace on Brush Creek.

Played guitar, fiddle, and sang in country band "The Downhomers" Bridgeton, NJ late 1930s early 1940s. Photo taken in Millville, NJ 1940.

Pfc Robert S. Truell first buried at Temporary American Military Cemetery Henri-Chapelle, Belgium Block DD, Row 6, Grave 110.