WW2 Normandy Fallen - Silver Star hero Virgil Reimers, 35th Infantry Division

PFC Virgil Reimers earned the Silver Star while serving with the 35th Infantry Division in Normandy.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97367877/virgil-d_-reimers
http://www.35thinfdivassoc.com/Normandy/the-story_1.shtml 

Virgil D. Reimers never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database.  Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Virgil was born on April 4, 1920 in Nebraska. His parents Bert and Ella were also both born in Nebraska. All his grandparents were from Germany. His father worked as a farmer. Virgil had one older sister, one older brother, and two younger sisters. By 1940 Virgil had completed eight years of schooling and was working on the family farm.

He volunteered for the army in December 1940. He reached the rank of private first class in Company D, 1st Battalion, 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division. The 35th Infantry Division joined the front lines in Normandy on July 8, 1944 and immediately suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Saint-Lo and more than 2,400 during the Normandy campaign. 

On July 16 the 134th IR captured the village of Emilic near St. Lo in hand-to-hand fighting. Losses during this period were among the highest the 35th ID would see during the war. The next day, PFC Reimers fought his last battle which resulted in a posthumously awarded Silver Star.

His citation reads as follows:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Private First Class Virgil D. Reimers (ASN: 20723010), United States Army, for gallantry in action while serving with Company D, 1st Battalion, 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division, in the vicinity of *****, France, 17 July 1944. 

Private Reimers, an ammunition carrier in a machine gun squad, had been supporting the advance of his unit. During a strong enemy counterattack, the members of the machine gun crew, with the exception of Private Reimers and another soldier, were killed. Undaunted by the fact that his position was extremely perilous, he and the other surviving member of the crew remained at the gun and continued to cover the unit's withdrawal until he was mortally wounded by enemy artillery. 

Private Reimer's zeal for the success of his unit, his inspiring loyalty to duty and his conspicuous courage, contributed immeasurably to the success of his unit's mission and reflects the highest credit upon his character as a soldier.

PFC Reimers died of his wounds two days later on July 19, 1944.

His grave is at Grand Island Cemetery in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Thank you PFC Reimers for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Virgil.

Last year on this date I profiled P-47 pilot Donald Younglas. You can read about Donald 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.

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WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

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http://www.tggf.org