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| Pvt. Clarence Docteur served in the 101st Airborne during the defense of Bastogne. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113423876/clarence-j-docteur https://www.tracesofwar.com/articles/3643/Battle-for-Bastogne.htm |
Clarence J. Docteur never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Clarence was born on June 8, 1920 in New York. His parents George and Lilly were also both born in New York. His father worked as an iceman and then a water pump station operator. Later he worked as a city waterworks operator. Clarence had two older sisters and two younger sisters. By 1940 Clarence had completed eight years of schooling and was working as a trucking helper.
He was drafted into the army in January 1944. At some point he joined Company D, 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division with the rank of private. Pvt. Docteur was almost certainly not with his unit on D-Day and may not even have been a Screaming Eagle for Operation Market Garden. He was a paratrooper in time for the 101st's role in the Battle of the Bulge.
In mid-December the 101st Airborne was in reserves for much needed rest, replacements and refitting. It proved to be one of the few unengaged units available to dig in around Bastogne to prevent this important road hub from falling into the hands of the advancing Germans. They arrived in the evening of December 18, 1944. The 501st was position on the east side, in the direct path of the advancing Panzer Lehr Division. Pvt. Docteur was killed in action on December 24, 1944.
His grave is at Brookside Cemetery in Waterton, New York.
This is one of the final 100 stories (87) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled Burma-Siam Death Railway POW fallen Wesley Hoch. You can read about Wesley 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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