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| Tech5 Eugene Calvin served in the 775th Engineer Company. References below. |
Eugene Darrell Calvin never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Eugene was born on 15 August 1920 in Portage County, Ohio. His mother was Cleo Clarissa Roberts (B: 7 June 1899; D: 14 April 1997) originally from Salem, Pennsylvania. His father was Darrell David Calvin (B: 9 August 1898; D 6 July 1963), born in Adamsville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania.
Eugene was the oldest child born to Cleo and Darrell. His younger siblings were his brother LaVerne (B: 18 September 1924; D: 23 September 1987) and two sisters - Eva June (Calvin) Ferrall (B: 23 June 1926; D: 9 December 1999) and Margaret (Marguerite) (Calvin) Birkhimer (B: 2 April 1928; D: 2 February 2020).
Darrell Calvin worked for railroad companies, which gave his family a modest degree of economic stability during the Depression years. In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, his occupation was listed as station agent. In 1940, Darrell was a freight agent. Cleo was a housewife. The 1940 U.S. Census also reported that nineteen-year-old Eugene had worked at a Rayon silk factory.
According to the 1939 Leetonia, Ohio, High School Yearbook, Eugene had been active in many school activities, including the glee club, the school chorus, and the manual arts club. He also played football in his senior year.
At some point, Eugene married Martha Jane Bier, daughter of Edward and Malande Bier. In 1940, Martha was a waitress, boarding with a family on Elm Street, Middlefield Village, Ohio. They had one son – Eugene Darrell Calvin, Jr., born about 1945.
Eugene’s military career began on 2 October 1939 when he joined the National Guard. He subsequently enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1941 at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers, 775th Engineer Company. At the time of his enlistment, Eugene was 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed 139 pounds.
Eugene’s military rank was T/5 (sometimes recorded as TEC-5) – or Technician Fifth Grade. According to www.wikipedia.org, this rank was “… a specialist rank, equivalent to that of a corporal. Technicians possessed specialized skills that earned them a higher pay grade, but they had no command authority.”
Specific information on Eugene’s life and his role in the Army Corps of Engineers is sparse. According to his WWII Hospital Admission Card File records found on ancestry.com, Eugene was Killed in Action during a battle at an unknown location on 15 February 1945. He was 24 years old.
On 26 October 1948, Martha J. Calvin of West Farmington, Ohio, applied for a flat granite grave marker to be delivered to Stevenson Cemetery, Greenville, Pennsylvania. Eugene Darrell Calvin was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart. Like so many others of his generation, Eugene gave his life in service to his country. Let us honor him here today.
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This profile was written by Joanne Dillon. “I’m a writer, amateur genealogist, and history buff. Writing profiles of the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War II is a way I can use my skills to help ensure they are not forgotten. It’s truly an honor to participate in this project.”
This is one of the final 50 stories (19) 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 TBM Avenger pilot George Scully, USS Langley. You can read about George 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.
Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by
The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation
“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”
SOURCES
www.ancestry.com. 1939 Leetonia High School Yearbook; Birth and Death Information on the Calvin Family; 1930 and 1940 U.S. Federal Census; Eugene Calvin U.S. Army Enlistment Record; Eugene Calvin National Guard Enlistment Record; WWII Hospital Admission Card for Eugene Calvin; Information on Martha J. (Bier) Calvin; 1971 Marriage Certificate for Eugene Darrell Calvin, Jr.;
www.findagrave.com/memorial/166474819/eugene-d_-calvin. Application for Headstone for Eugene Calvin.
www.honorstates.org. Posthumous Award of Purple Heart to Eugene Calvin.
www.wikipedia.org. Information on Technician Fifth Grade Military Rank.
www.wkbn.com. Obituary for Margaret Linda (Calvin) Birkhimer, Salem Ohio, Published on 4 February 2020, on My Valley Tributes.
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