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Personal info

Full name
CUTLER, Richard W "Dick"
Date of birth
16 September 1919
Age
25
Place of birth
Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio
Hometown
Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio

Military service

Service number
15101860
Rank
Private First Class
Function
Automatic Rifleman
Unit
I Company,
3rd Battalion,
505th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
82nd Airborne Division
Awards
Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
3 January 1945
Place of death
Fosse - Trois-Ponts, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
D 7 2

Immediate family

Members
Harry G. Cutler Sr. (father)
Mary R. Cutler (mother)
Harry G. Cutler Jr. (brother)
Mary J. Cutler (sister)
Dorothy M. Cutler (sister)
Jessie M. (Hahn) Cutler (wife)
Judith A. (Dyer) Cutler (daughter)

More information

Pfc Richard W. Cutler volunteered for the Army of the United States at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana on 16 April 1942.
The plan on 3 January for taking Fosse was for G and H Companies to bypass the town and take up positions on high ground to the southwest from which they could provide supporting fire while I Company attacked into the town from the north. All was going well until I Company emerged from a wood two hundred yards from Fosse's outskirts and got pinned down by small arms, machinegun and artillery fire. The commanding officer, Capt McPheeters was killed instantly as well as the only other officer Lt Degenhardt. In total the company suffered 13 casualties. They are remembered on a monument, situated on the north side of the town in a street called Sur le Meez.

A fellow heard Richard's last words:
"After an hour or so, a Sherman tank rattled up the hill and with his help we secured our objective. It was an expensive outing for us, as we lost several more of our original men. Dick Cutler and I had been friends since basic training. He had made it to the hedgerow and raised up his BAR to fire on a sniper in a barn loft. His last words were: 'I'll get that son of a bitch.' The sniper was waiting for him to raise up. Dick took a bullet through the chest, groaned and died. Our CO, Capt McPeeters, on my right at the hedgerow, was killed at this time. He had replaced a CO killed in Normandy."

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Judith Ann Cutler Dyer (daughter), NARA, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ww2-airborne.us, www.ancestry.com - 1920/1930 Census / Headstone and Interment Record, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Records

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Henri Hannon, www.newspapers.com - 31 January 1945, AOMDA