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Personal info

Full name
MC GRATH, Joseph Aloysious
Date of birth
4 October 1911
Age
32
Place of birth
Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware
Hometown
Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware

Military service

Service number
32488779
Rank
Private First Class
Function
Machine Gunner
Unit
M Company,
3rd Battalion,
320th Infantry Regiment,
35th Infantry Division
Awards
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
27 September 1944
Place of death
In the woods of Gremecey, east of Bioncourt, Lorraine, France

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
C 13 47

Immediate family

Members
John J. Mc Grath (father)
Ella A. (Brady) Mc Grath (mother)
Ethel Mc Grath (sister)
Margaret Mc Grath (sister)
Francis Mc Grath (brother)
Elizabeth Mc Grath (sister)
Eleanor Mc Grath (sister)
Edith I. (Moore) Mc Grath (wife)
Joseph R. Mc Grath (son)

More information

Pfc Joseph A. Mc Grath attended the St. Elizabeth's Parochial School and was a welder with the T.T. Weldin Company.

He enlisted in the Army in Camden, New Jersey on 23 January 1943 and received training at Camp San Luis Obispo, Camp Rucker, Alabama, and Camp Butner, North Carolina. He was sent overseas in May.

Per Capt Gerard T. Armstrong, the regiment assistant adjutant "Pfc McGrath was leading his squad out of a defensive position. As they were moving out they encountered an enemy artillery barrage and Joseph was killed by an exploding shell. He was to have been promoted to the grade of sergeant on the very day that he disappeared.

Source of information: Astrid van Erp, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.findagrave.com, www.coulthart.com/134, www.ancestry.com - 1920 - 1930 census, http://delaware.contentdm.oclc.org, www.newspapers.com - The News Journal

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, http://delaware.contentdm.oclc.org - 35th Infantry Division