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| Lt. Allen Lindholm served in the 99th Infantry Battalion which repaired and used this captured German halftrack. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95443748/allen-l-lindholm http://www.99battalion.org/index_files/continent.htm |
Allen L. Lindholm never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on February 5, 1918 in North Dakota. His parents Enard and Bessie were born in Minnesota and and North Dakota, respectively. Three of his grandparents were from Scandinavia. His father worked as a farmer. Allen had three younger brothers. His brother Dean was in the Navy for the last few months of the war. By 1940 Allen was attending his third year of college and was active in the National Guard.
He enlisted in the army on February 11, 1941 with the rank of sergeant. He later became a first lieutenant in Company C, 99th Infantry Battalion. This unique battalion was composed of men of Norwegian descent with knowledge of the language and trained to ski. At one point plans were to use the unit for an invasion of Norway. That never materialized so the 99th was sent to France and arrived on Omaha Beach on June 22, 1944 in time to participate in the Battle of Cherbourg.
By August 25, 1944 the 99th Bn was attached to the 2nd Armored Division. It attacked the Germans south of the town of Elbeuf, France. It successfully fought enemy tanks without heavy arms support of its own to capture the town. The next day the Germans counterattacked but the Americans held. Lt. Lindholm died of wounds from this battle.
His grave is at Elk Valley Lutheran Church Cemetery in McCanna, North Dakota.
Last year on this date I profiled Lloyd Bushell, 5th Infantry Division. You can read about Lloyd 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
From Eric Brun via the WWII Pictures Facebook group:
ReplyDeleteLt Lindholm commanded Company D, the weapons company, of the Norwegian American 99th Infantry Battalion at the time of his death.
He died of wounds in the same barrage that struck the command post that caused many casualties and wounding the battalion commander.
He was respected by his men and had serviced with the battalion since its activation at Camp Ripley, MN.
Thank you for the wonderful post.
t.Allen Lindholm was my father's cousin.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting. I wish I could have met my amazing Grandfather.
ReplyDelete