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| Sgt. Herbert Hornberger, shown on left with an earlier model tank, was killed when his amphibious DD tank sunk on D-Day. https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/106773148/person/340053258799/media/a942d0b0-8163-4711-b83d-d2e588831f27?_phsrc=JTs4&_phstart=successSource http://www.naval-technology.com/features/featureremembering-d-day-revealing-the-hidden-wrecks-under-normandy-waters-4143012/ |
Herbert John Hornberger never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on January 11, 1918 in Indiana. His parents Harvey and Rosa were also both born in Indiana. His father worked as a farmer. Herbert had two younger sisters.
Herbert left a job as a driver and enlisted in the army on January 12, 1942. He became a TEC 4 in Company C, 741st Tank Battalion. The 741st was an independent unit that arrived in England in November 1943. It was trained to man amphibious tanks and land on Omaha Beach on D-Day in support of the 1st Infantry Division. The tanks were Sherman Duplex-Drive (DD) tanks, equipped with a flotation screen. Sgt. Hornberger's Company C came in with the 3rd Battalion of the 16th Infantry Regiment.
With 60 minutes to go before H-Hour, the amphibious tank commanders had to decide where to deploy the tanks. The sea was extremely rough, much rougher than the men had ever practiced with. They decided to go anyway. All of the tanks in Company C sank before reaching the shore at a range of 5,000 to to 1,000 yards. Most of the men were picked up by boats and returned to England, but not Sergeant Hornberger, who died on June 6, 1944. His body was found on Omaha Beach and was originally buried in Normandy.
His grave is now at St John's United Church of Christ Cemetery in Penntown, Indiana.
Last year on this date I profiled Omer LeMay, 6th Marine Division, who is now buried next to his brother Ernest (a Korean War POW). You can read about Omer 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.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
Thank you for sharing this. I am a relative of Herbert and I am named after him in my middle name. This is amazing.
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