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| Staff Sergeant Bruce Cotten served with the 25th Infantry Division from Pearl Harbor to Luzon. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41420868/bruce-lloyd-cotten https://www.ww2online.org/search-page?f%5B0%5D=field_unit%3A25th%20Infantry%20Division |
Bruce Lloyd Cotten never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on March 11, 1919 in Montrose, Colorado. His parents Roy and Emma were born in Colorado and Oklahoma, respectively. His father worked as a farmer. Bruce had three older brothers, two older sisters, a younger brother, and a younger sister. By 1940 Bruce had completed eight years of schooling and was living and working on the family farm.
He enlisted in the US Army on October 22, 1940. He was serving at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant in Company K, 3rd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (nicknamed "Tropic Lightning"). It was moved to Guadalcanal in November 1942 and helped complete the defeat of the Japanese defenders in January and February 1943. Next it participated in the New Georgia campaign in September 1943. It landed in the San Fabian area of Luzon on January 11, 1945 as part of MacArthur's plan to retake the main island of the Philippines.
By then end of February, the 25th ID had moved off the central plain and was fighting the Japanese in the Caraballo Mountains. Sgt. Cotten was killed in action on April 5, 1945. By mid-May the division had defeated the Japanese in this area and secured the Balete Pass.
His grave is at Garden of Memories Cemetery in Crawford, Colorado.
Last year on this date I profiled B-17 navigator Charles Hoffman. You can read about Charles 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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