Memorial

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Sgt Louis J. Glavan attended Virginia Junior College when he enlisted on 25 November 1942. The last time his family saw him, was the day he left for basic training. Typically, a soldier would get furlough to come home at least once before he was shipped overseas. For some reason this never happened in Sgt Glavan's case.

In letters home, he indicated he hoped to get accepted into Officers Candidate School but this did not happen. He joined the First Infantry Division in North Africa as a replacement just before the Battle of El Guettar in March 1943. He also participated in the invasion of Sicily end went ashore in the second wave on Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944. He fought across France and Belgium, in the battle for Aachen, in the Hürtgen Forest, in the Battle of the Bulge and crossed the Rhine River on 23 March 1945.

He was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions when his platoon was about to be overrun. While under fire, he organized the men in his platoon to successfully stop the attack.

His brother Fred A. Glavan is buried at the American Military Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg.

One picture shows his mother, kneeling at the grave of her son on Memorial Day 1959. A few days later she visited the grave of her other son Fred in Luxembourg.

All six brothers served during the war, four in Europe, two in the Pacific. Albin Glavan was severely wounded in April 1945 on the island of Ie Shima, just off the coast of Okinawa.