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| Pvt. Ralph Hershman served in the 4th Infantry Division on D-Day until the ship he was on struck a mine. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56645564/ralph-w_-hershman http://members.tripod.com/~msg_fisher/irv-2.html |
Ralph W. Hershman never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Ralph was born on March 31, 1920 in Maryland. His parents Scott and Oatie were both born in West Virginia. It is likely that Oatie died when Ralph was young. His father worked as a coal mine coal loader and died in 1933, leaving Ralph as an orphan. Ralph had one younger half-brother had one younger half-sister.
He was drafted into the army in November 1941. He was trained in the field artillery and eventually became a private in Battery B, 29th Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Infantry Division. It was equipped with M-7 armored 105th howitzers. He was sent to England in January 1944.
On the morning of D-Day, June 6, 1944, the four M-7s of Battery B were positioned on LCT-458 off the coast at Utah Beach to provide artillery support for the men of the 8th Infantry Regiment from the deck of the LCT. The LCT hit a mine and 37 men were killed from Battery B and another 22 wounded. Pvt. Hershman was one of those killed. His body was never recovered.
On the one year anniversary of his death, his aunt, Mrs. Russell Paugh, printed this memoriam in the local paper:
The blow was hard, the shock severe,
We never thought is death so near.
Only those who have lost can tell,
The pain of parting without farewell.
He little thought when leaving home,
That he would never return.
That he so soon in death would sleep,
And leave us here to mourn.
God knows how much we miss him,
Never shall his memory fade.
Loving thoughts will ever wander,
To the spot where he is laid.
His cenotaph memorial is at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France.
Last year on this date I profiled WW2 D-Day Armada fallen John Quigley, USS Tide. You can read about John 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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