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Personal info

Full name
BROWN, Samuel Hays
Date of birth
3 July 1912
Age
32
Place of birth
Bloomfield, Nelson County, Kentucky
Hometown
Bloomfield, Nelson County, Kentucky

Military service

Service number
O-319836
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
unknown
Unit
HQ & HQ Battery,
155th Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion,
17th Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
24 March 1945
Place of death
1.7 miles northeast of Wesel, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
D 4 8

Immediate family

Members
Samuel H. Brown (father)
Mattie (Hays) Brown (mother)

More information

1st Lt Brown was a passenger in CG-4A Glider n° 43, which mission was to drop personnel of the 155th AAA Battalion

This glider was released over the landing zone at 1116 hours and was last seen as it entered the smoke over the landing zone and was not observed after that. Glider pilots who returned after the battle had no knowledge of what had happened to the pilot and co-pilot of this glider, or of the glider itself.

On board were two crew members, pilot 1st Lt Paul L. Hurney and co-pilot 2nd Lt William J. Niland and 3 passengers of HQ Battery of the, 155th AAA Battalion None of them survived the crash.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ww2-airborne.us, www.ancestry.com - 1940 Census / Headstone and Interment Record, 17th Airborne Division Historical Report of Operation Varsity, Book: The Last Drop, 24-25 March 1945 by Stephen L. Wright.

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Fred, The Courier-Journal 6 May 1945, Rhonda Patton Wathen