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Personal info

Full name
SAXON, Rayford E
Date of birth
6 January 1921
Age
24
Place of birth
Franklin County, Mississippi
Hometown
Franklin County, Mississippi

Military service

Service number
O-1296751
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Platoon Commander
Unit
F Company,
2nd Battalion,
397th Infantry Regiment,
100th Infantry Division
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
9 January 1945
Place of death
Near Rimling, France

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 34 57

Immediate family

Members
Robert G. Saxon (father)
Agnes (Abbott) Saxon (mother)
Robert D. Saxon (brother)
Virnie L. Saxon (brother)
Alice M. Saxon (sister)
Thomas M. Saxon (brother)
Maurice Saxon (brother)
Margie L. Saxon (sister)

More information

1st Lt Rayford E. Saxon enlisted in Camp Shelby, Mississippi on 10 September 1941. He was killed by shrapnel wounds to the right side of his head and shoulder.
Second Battalion was defending harassed position in and around Rimling as the Germans launched a fierce attack. The F Company Command Post was overrun with 4 officers being listed as Missing in Action. Rayford Saxon has to be one of these officers. Over 30 members of his Company were cut off and surrounded as the survivors were forced to fall back to Guising after failing to recapture the old Command Post.
First Lieutenant Saxon is for some reason not mentioned in the 100th Infantry Division "Roll of Honor" nor is he listed in the Monthly Reports as being Killed in Action.
His IDPF reviles that his body was not identified until 1950. It was through the persistent efforts of his father, that efforts to identify Rayford Saxon was continued for so long. The US Army even goes so far as acknowledge that the efforts of Mr. Saxon were one of the major factors in having his son's remains laid to rest under his own name.
He was first buried at Temporary American Military Cemetery St. Avold, France Block JJJ, Row 10, Grave 118.

Source of information: Danny Dohmen, Peter Schouteten, WWIIMemorial.com, Footnote and Tohonorourfallen.com,
www.findagrave.com - Leslie Pierce Royce, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military
Cemeteries on Foreign Soil
/ 1930 Census

Photo source: Mireille Goedhart, www.ancestry.com - U.S. School Yearbook