Memorial

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Cpl Roger F. Coffin enlisted in Tacoma, Washington on 3 February 1943.

Following the successful jump into Holland, Roger and his platoon were assigned to the unit defending "The Hill" at Plasmolen. "The Hill" was strategically located overlooking the highway that runs from Mook to Milsbeek (now N-271) The highway follows the Maas river, making it the only tank route for the Germans to retake the bridge that the 505th had captured at Nijmegen. "The Hill" is a 300 ft high forested ridge that overlooks the highway located about 1 mile from the German border. The immediate area is a heavily forested nature preserve, limiting the German tanks to that one road. The Germans attacked the hill for days, on Wednesday the 20th the Germans attacked in large numbers with tanks and supporting infantry, attempting to encircle the troops on the hill. Doyle P. Lawson, J.D. Shelton and Roger F. Coffin were ordered off the hill, down to the highway to stop the German encirclement. Lawson, Shelton, Coffin took up positions between a burned-out hotel (near the current 'Restaurant de Plasmolen Hof') and with a pond on their right. Shelton, Coffin took up position in a shell crater to the rear of the hotel. Lawson took up a position on 'The Hill' side of the highway. They fought off the attack, and after the Germans withdrew, Lawson recalls a mortar attack the likes he had never witnessed before. After the barrage ended, he crawled over the highway, too Shelton and Coffin's position, to find that they had both been killed by a direct hit from a mortar.