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| Lt. Paul Dooley served with the 3rd Armored Division in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21499131/paul-m-dooley http://www.gautierandcharles.biz/chuck/ww2%20hurtgen%20forest.htm |
Paul Murray Dooley never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on February 1, 1918 in Massachusetts. His parents Thomas and Helen were also both born in Massachusetts. His father worked as a high school teacher. Paul had two younger sisters and a younger brother who served in the US Navy near the end of the war. By 1940 Paul was still living at home and had completed one year of college. At some point he married Jeanne Danos from Louisiana who served as a nurse during WW2. Their first child was a girl.
He enlisted in the army on February 9, 1942 and became a first lieutenant in Company A, 1st Battalion, 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division (Nicknamed Spearhead).
The 3rd Armored was in combat in Normandy in early July 1944. It fought at the Battle of St. Lo and helped close the Falaise Gap, trapping the German Seventh Army. It raced across France and reached Belgium in early September. Two weeks later in began fighting the Battle of Hurtgen Forrest. Lt. Dooley died on September 20, 1944, the second day of the battle that would go on for three months and result in 33,000 Allied casualties.
It could take two or three weeks or more for the telegram announcing the death of a soldier to reach home. The news of Lt. Dooley's death would have arrived around the time that his namesake son was born on October 11, 1944.
His grave is at Saint Joseph Cemetery in Thibodaux, Louisiana. His widow never remarried and died in 2007. His son also died in 2007, six months after his mother.
Last year on this date I profiled Seaman Robert Barrows, who is still missing in action from the Battle of Bataan. You can read about Robert 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
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