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Personal info

Full name
SHEA, Bernard Arthur
Date of birth
16 July 1908
Age
36
Place of birth
Minnesota
Hometown
Rice County, Minnesota

Military service

Service number
37588504
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
K Company,
3rd Battalion,
309th Infantry Regiment,
78th Infantry Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
2 March 1945
Place of death
Near Flammersheim, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Plot Row Grave
D 4 41

Immediate family

Members
John P. Shea (father)
Mary (Cormier) Shea (mother)
Madeleine (Chappuis) Shea (wife)
Richard A. Shea (son)
John V. Shea (son)

More information

Pfc Bernard A. Shea attended college for one year.

He enlisted at Fort Snelling, Minnesota on 1 February 1944.

The daughter of his closest friend recalled the following: 'My father's friend and dear buddy was Pfc. Bernard A. Shea. My Dad talked a great deal about Bernard, whom he called "Shea." Dad told me that the 78th Division had orders to march to the Remagen Bridgehead on the Rhine River and young Bernard was killed before they even got there. Dad never forgot his buddy, Shea; and in the last few weeks of my Dad's life he talked about his buddies, including Shea, a great deal. I will never forget the last time he spoke to me about Shea. He had seen Shea get hit and when the firefight was over he ran to Shea's foxhole, only to find him dead. Dad said that he just wished someone had cared enough about Shea to bring his body home, but no one ever requested that his body be returned.'

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Frederik Vranken, www.abmc.gov, www.findagrave.com - James L. Cooper, Richard Blunk, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil / 1940 Census / Minnesota Cemetery Inscription Index

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, Rick Shea