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| Captain Salver Gagliardi was the battalion operations officer for the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24433465/salver-g_-gagliardi http://www.12tharmoredmuseum.com/photoalbum_02.asp?c=56th%20Armored%20Infantry%20Battalion |
Salver George Gagliardi never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on June 23, 1919 in Washington. His parents Frank and Theresa were born in Italy and Idaho, respectively (her parents were from Italy). His father worked as a cabinet maker in Spokane, Washington and later in Gilroy, California. Salver had one older brother, one younger brother, and one younger sister. By 1940 Salver had completed two years of college and was living with his parents.
He enlisted in the army on March 3, 1941 and rose to the rank of captain, serving as the battalion operations officer in the HQ Company, 56th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division. The 12th Armored Division arrived in France on November 11, 1944 and was engaged along the old Maginot line by early December. It crossed the Rhine in late March 1945. Captain Gagliardi was killed on April 5, 1945 while his battalion was fighting near Wurzburg. Snipers were a big problem and a captain would have made an obvious target. This late in the war, only 43 men from his battalion were killed in April.
His grave is at Saint Mary Cemetery in Gilroy, California.
Last year on this date I profiled D-Day glider pilot John Butler and the highest ranking Allied officer killed on D-Day. You can read about John here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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