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| S/Sgt. Rufe Tipps served with these men from Company K, 359th Infantry Regiment when they fought in Normandy. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101873848/rufe-eldridge-tipps http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/History/Yardlongs/RegTroops/359th/CoK/359%20K%20DC%20783p62.jpg http://abmc.nomadmobileguides.com/Normandy.php?page=narrative&id=cont-2303 |
Rufe E. Tipps never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on May 16, 1918 in Tennessee. His parents Rufus and Tabitha were also both born in Tennessee. His father worked as a farmer and later as a barber. Rufe had two younger sisters and two younger brothers. By 1940 Rufe had completed two years of college at Middle Tennessee State and was working on the family farm.
He was drafted into the army on October 8, 1941. He became a staff sergeant in Company K, 3rd Battalion, 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division.
The 90th ID arrived in England in April 1944 and immediately began training for the invasion of France. It was in action in Normandy the day after D-Day. A week later, Sgt. Tipps was killed on June 14, 1944 when his regiment was attacking the village of Orglandes. The 90th ID would lose more than third of its men during the fighting in Normandy.
His grave is at Riverview Memorial Gardens in Fayetteville, Tennessee.
Rufe is the 500th of the fallen I have profiled so far. That accounts for only 5 of the 4,048 stars on the Freedom Wall at the WW2 Memorial. I plan to continue this project through September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2. Thanks to all those that are sharing this project with others so more people can learn of these men (and women) who should not be forgotten.
Last year on this date I profiled Seeber Crawford, 101st Airborne Division. You can read about Seeber 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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