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| Sgt. Orville Snell served in the 4th Infantry Division from Utah Beach to the Siegfried Line. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73197025/orville-e-snell https://www.pinterest.com/pin/47428602306894071/?lp=true |
Orville Eugene Snell never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on October 10, 1919 in Manchester, Pennsylvania. His parents Arthur and Lydia were also both born in Pennsylvania. His father worked as a garage repairman and later as a truck driver. Orville had one older brother, five younger brothers, and three younger sister. By 1940 Orville was still living at home. He had completed eight years of schooling and worked as a farm laborer.
He was drafted into the army in January 1942. He eventually became a staff sergeant in Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. The men of the 4th ID landed on Utah Beach on D-Day. Resistance was much less than at Omaha Beach and the division suffered less than 200 casualties. As the division moved across France and into Germany, losses began to mount - by the end of the war, they would exceed 22,000.
Sgt. Snell's heavy weapons company was in the thick of things for more than three months by the time it got to the Siegfried Line in the Hürtgen Forest in mid September. He was killed a few days later on September 19, 1944.
His grave is at Quickels Lutheran Church Cemetery in Zions View, Pennsylvania.
Herman Hilscher, 29th Infantry Division, was born one year earlier than Orville Snell. You can read about Herman 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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