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name
MAC LENNAN, Gordon Gamble - Date of
birth
21 August 1924 -
Age
20 - Place of
birth
Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts -
Hometown
Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
31425691 -
Rank
Private -
Function
Rifleman -
Unit
I Company,
3rd Battalion,
115th Infantry Regiment,
29th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
8 December 1944 - Place of
death
Hasenfeld Gut, West bank of the Ruhr river at Jülich, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| A | 10 | 27 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Frank E. Mac Lennan (father)
Agnes W. (Gamble) Mac Lennan (mother)
Edna A. Mac Lennan (sister)
Thelma P. Mac Lennan (sister)
Frank C. Mac Lennan (brother)
More information
Pvt Gordon G. Mac Lennan attended Parker High School at Watertown, Mass. where he studied cartooning.He enlisted in Boston, Massachusetts on 8 January 1943. He joined his unit from a replacement Depot on 19 July 1944 and was lightly wounded in action on 8 August 1944 in France.
Letter from Lonnie Ford of Louisville, Kentucky, Fort Knox, Ky, 2 January1952:
"Please forgive me in writing this letter, but I have been putting it off so long now, that I am ashame of myself. You are wondering who this is. I am Lonnie Ford and I don’t know if your son Gordon ever mentioned me in a letter to you or not, but Gordon and I buddy together while in Germany. I often think of “Mac” (that’s what I called him) and his folks back home and Mac was so nice and jolly, that I knew he had some wonderful folks back home, I can remember well Mac wrote home often. You see, I was next to Mac when he was killed and I have all this time been going to write you about the way it happened, but you know how those things are. I had to write to the Department of the Army to get your address. I feel in writtening you this letter it’ll help me, you see I keep thinking of Mac as one of my best fiends, and if I wrote you I would feel better, I hope you understand how I feel about Mac."
"I had been wounded in the battle for St. Lo and was sent back to England for about three months and when I came back to my company I saw Mac and me buddy together until he was killed by a German officer. I’ll try and give you the whole story on that day, as it happened. The only fatality during that day for Company “I” occurred late in the afternoon when Mac spotted a German officer creeping up to the hole in the wall. The Kraut poked a burp gun through the opening and was just about the fire when Mac shouted and raised his rifle in the air. The German took off. Mac following after him. Unfortunately he had his glover and the safety on his riffle. As he ran after the Kraut, he worked to release the safety. Sensing that his opponent was at a temporary disadvantage, the German turned and fired three time, fatally wounding Mac. All this took place near Koslar Germany, a place called the Hasenfeld Gut, just on the banks of the Roer River. Our B.A.R. man killed this German officer but not in time to save Mac. If only he didn’t have his safety on, but as I said before Mrs. MacLennan, it’s just one of those things. I am very sorry for you Mrs. MacLennan. Mac was a very fine young man, I thought the world and all about him, he was a soldier, and truly a brave one, you have ever right to feel mighty proud of him."
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Diane Christenson, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census
Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, www.myheritage.nl - Diane Christenson