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| Staff Sergeant Andrew Hovdestad served with the 5th Armored Division from Normandy to Germany. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100534834/andrew-cornelius-hovdestad https://www.eucmh.be/2018/05/26/5th-armored-division-85-crs-aar-august-1944/ |
Andrew Cornelius "Stub" Hovdestad never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 26, 1919 in Minnesota. His parents Anton and Olivia were both born in North Dakota. All of his grandparents were from Norway. His father worked as a general laborer and later as a coal company truck driver. He was unemployed in 1940. Stub had two older sisters, two younger sisters, and five younger brothers. All six served in the military beginning in World War 2 and continuing on to Korea and the Cold War. By 1940 Stub had completed three years of high school and was working as farm laborer and still living at home.
He was drafted into the army in June 1942. He eventually reached the rank of staff sergeant in Company A, 46th Armored Infantry Battalion, 5th Armored Division. The 5th Armored arrived on Utah Beach on July 24, 1944. It was sent into combat on August 2 and drove south to Vitre. It seized Le Mans on August 8. The 5th AD reached Paris at the end of August. It was in Luxembourg before the middle of September. It was sent to the Hurtgen Forest in late November.
On December 15, Sgt. Hovdestad's company was part of the assault on the German town of Kufferath. He led aggressive patrols to clear the town in house-to-house fighting. In the process, he was mortally wounded by artillery shrapnel. He urged his men on while staying to oversea the needs of the other wounded and see that they were taken to safety. He died at the battalion aid station. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a citation.
His grave is at Riverside Cemetery in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Last year on this date I profiled Battle of the Bulge fallen Roy Jones, 4th Armored Division. You can read about Roy 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
A soldier, a tree ... https://www.facebook.com/events/2376364715815562/
ReplyDeleteThe non-profit association Mons Devoir de Mémoire will organize a tree distribution to honor the memory of the young American soldiers who fell in Mons in September 1944 for our freedom.
Each tree will have its identification plate with the soldier's name and a certificate with the information available on the soldier.
The number of trees is limited.
Distribution will begin around 10 am in Mons on the Dolez esplanade in front of the Mons Memorial Museum ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mons-Memorial-Museum/590814161060413