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Personal info

Full name
MC ILWINEN, John Henry
Date of birth
14 March 1913
Age
31
Place of birth
Cumberland County, North Carolina
Hometown
Cumberland County, North Carolina
Ethnicity
White

Military service

Service number
O1285981
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Company Commander
Unit
A Company,
1st Battalion,
309th Infantry Regiment,
78th Infantry Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
13 December 1944
Place of death
In the vicinity of Witzerath, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
A 17 29

Immediate family

Members
John H. Mc Ilwinen (father)
Annie E. (Hubbard) Mc Ilwinen (mother)
Annie H. Mc Ilwinen (sister)
Billie Mc Ilwinen (brother)
Louisa B. (Rankin) Mc Ilwinen (wife)
Dianne M. Mc Ilwinen (daughter)
Louisa Mc Ilwinen (daughter)

More information

1st Lt John H. Mc Ilwinen graduated from Presbyterians Junior College and attended the University of North Carolina. He was employed by the Unemployment Compensation Bureau in Fayetteville.

He enlisted at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on 29 May 1941.

On 13 December 1944, he was advancing with his men through darkness and heavy fog in the vicinity of Paustenbach when they came under heavy fire from German defensive positions. He rallied his men and led them in a frontal assault on the town of Witzerath, Germany. He was fatally wounded while neutralizing an enemy dugout. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star Medal for this action.

Lt Mc Ilwinen is remembered at Cross Creek Cemetery #2 in Fayetteville, North Carolina with a memorial marker.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.findagrave.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record, The Fayetteville Observer - 23 June 1945, U.S. Federal Census 1950

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Peter Schouteten/Doc Wilson

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