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Personal info

Full name
CLYMIRE, John J
Date of birth
1919
Age
unknown
Place of birth
Partage, Cambria County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Oakland County, Michigan

Military service

Service number
16011838
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
86th Engineer Heavy Pontoon Battalion
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Died non-Battle
Date of death
17 December 1944
Place of death
The field next to the N62, near the crossroads "Five Points"
Baugnez, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
D 11 58

Immediate family

Members
Raymond C. Clymire (father)
Pearl (McIlnay) Clymire (mother)
Thelma Clymire (sister)
Rita Clymire (sister)
James Clymire (brother)
Lorraine B. (Miller) Clymire (wife)
John L. Clymire (son)

More information

Pfc Clymire was one of the victims of Malmedy massacre when German SS soldiers of the 1st Panzer Division captured over 100 American soldiers at Baugnez Crossroads outside Malmedy, Belgium, on 17 December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge and, under orders to take no prisoners, placed them in an open field and then machine gunned them. When the machine guns stopped, the SS went through the field where some victims were still alive and systematically finished them off with pistols at short range leaving 84 soldiers dead when they had finished. Fortunately, when the machine guns first started shooting, a number of soldiers ran and some managed to escape and tell the story of how the Germans had treated the others who had not survived.

His name is mentioned on the monument on the opposite side of the road.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, Susan Linton - Oakland County Press 10 February 1945, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com McCabe Family Tree / 1920 Census, www.archives.gov, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/malmedy_massacre.htm, Headstone and Internment Record

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Susan Linton - Oakland County Press - 10 February 1945