Memorial

More information

1st Lt John Urbatch graduated from Swaledale High School and attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for three years. He then moved to Hawaii, where he worked as a bartender and where he enlisted in the Army on 20 December 1940. His enlistment ended a few days before the attack on Pearl Harbor and he re-enlisted while Japanese bombs were still falling. He went to Fort Benning, Georgia for officer´s training which he completed in February 1943. He was ordered overseas in September 1944.

He was awarded the Silver Star Medal posthumously. The citation cited:
"General Orders: Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division, General Orders No. 17 (1945)
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (posthumously) to 1st Lt John Peter Urbatch, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against an armed enemy while serving with the 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, in action against the enemy in Europe. 1st Lt Urbatch's outstanding gallantry and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, the 9th Infantry Division, and the United States Army."

He is remembered at the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Mower County, Minnesota.

In the Mason City Globe Gazette of 2 January 1947, an article about the first adoption program at Henri-Chapelle was published. At that time, Mrs. Leon Peters was the first adoptee of his grave. On the bottom picture you can see her next to his original grave at Henri-Chapelle, that still had a wooden cross.