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| 2nd Lt. Edward Loustalot, 1st Ranger Battalion, was the first ground force American killed in Europe as part of the Dieppe Raid. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56359488 http://www.nww2m.com/2012/08/raid-on-dieppe-2/ |
Edward Vincent Loustalot never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Edward was born on March 17, 1920 in Louisiana. His parents Edward and Emma were also both born in Louisiana. His father worked as a house painter and died in 1938. Edward had one older sister and one younger brother. By 1940 Edward had complete four years of college at LSU with a degree as an architect engineer. He was working for Louisiana Power and Light and was living with his father's brother.
He was called into the service in early 1941. He eventually became a second lieutenant in the 1st Ranger Battalion. He left for Europe shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was in England by February 1942.
The American Army did not have much of presence in England in 1942. Most of their resources were focused on Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. Lt. Loustalot was part of a small contingent of five officers and forty-four enlisted Rangers who joined Operation Jubilee, better known as the Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942. Most of the raiders were Canadian (5,000) or British (1,000). The goal was to destroy coastal defenses and collect intelligence.
The actual results of the ten hour Dieppe Raid were disastrous, with more than half the force killed, wounded, or captured. The British captain in charge of the 3 Commando unit was killed early on - so Lt. Loustalot took over command. He led his men up a steep cliff but was cut down while advancing on an enemy machine-gun nest. Excluding those serving in the Army Air Forces, Lt. Loustalot was the first American killed fighting the enemy in Europe.
Lt. Loustalot was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (British) by King George VI. His family received the award accompanied by a personal message from Lord Mountbatten. He was inducted into the Louisiana State University Hall of Honor for Distinguished Service.
His grave is at Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.
Last year on this date I profiled Distinguished Service Cross hero Frank Bradley, 5th Infantry Division + the first American woman who earned the Purple Heart - Cordelia Cook. You can read about Frank and Cordelia 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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