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| Cpl. Sheldon Hartman served with the 88th Infantry Division in Italy. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146752912/sheldon-hartman/photo https://www.pinterest.com/pin/538672805415661135/ |
Sheldon Hartman never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 1, 1919 in Everett, Pennsylvania. His parents were also both born in Pennsylvania. The 1930's census shows Sheldon was living with his mother's parents. It appears he had no siblings. His parents divorced when he was quite young. Sheldon had a grammar school level of education and worked as a farm hand.
He was drafted into the army in October 1942. He became a corporal in Company D, 1st Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division (nicknamed "Fighting Blue Devils"). The 88th ID arrived in Italy in February 1944. It was on the frontline at the Garigliano River near Minturno in March. It was one of the first units to reach Rome on June 4, 1944.
After a period of rest and serving in a position of defense, the 88th ID move forward again, taking the Italian towns of Volterra, Laiatico, and Villamagna between July 9 and July 13. Cpl. Hartman was killed in action on July 15, 1944 when the 1st Battalion captured the high ground adjacent to Belvedere.
Fighting in lesser known battles that did not get a lot of attention back home, the 88th ID still paid a heavy cost toward the Allied victory. It suffered more than 13,000 casualties. Cpl. Hartman was one of 2,298 of these who were killed.
His grave is at Everett Cemetery in Everett, Pennsylvania.
Last year on this date I profiled B-24 engineer Byron Hassett. You can read about Byron 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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