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| Sgt. Alexander Bernal served in the 35th Tank Battalion during the Battle of the Bulge. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/81961666/alexander-joseph-bernal Armored Victory 1945 by Steven Zaloga, pg 36 |
Alexander Joseph Bernal never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 28, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents Stanislaw and Anna were both born in what became Poland. They came to the United States in 1903. His father worked as a grocery clerk and later as a meat packing house laborer. Still later he worked as a watchman. Alex had four older sisters, two older brothers, one younger sister, and two younger brothers. By 1940 Alex had completed eight years of schooling and found work as a lumberyard laborer. His mother died later that year.
He was drafted into the army in February 1942. He reached the rank of sergeant in the 35th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division. The 4th Armored Division arrived in Normandy in July 1944. It took part in Operation Cobra that finally broke the German defenses in Normandy, the race across France, Lorraine, the Saar River, and the Battle of the Bulge.
Two days after the Germans launched their attack through the Ardennes on December 16, 1944, General George Patton sent the 4th Armored north. It covered 150 miles in 19 hours. By December 26 it was able to break through to the 101st Airborne defending Bastogne. Within a week the Germans had mostly lost all the gains they had made. Sgt. Bernal was killed on January 10, 1945 when the Americans were back on the offensive.
His grave is at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums in Justice, Illinois.
Last year on this date I profiled Bronze Star hero Julian Grant, 9th Armored Division at Remagen. You can read about Julian 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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