Missing information?

Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?

Submit

Personal info

Full name
HICKS, Floyd Wayne
Date of birth
7 January 1922
Age
23
Place of birth
Ash Grove, Greene County, Missouri
Hometown
Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California

Military service

Service number
39567071
Rank
Private First Class
Function
Automatic Rifleman
Unit
L Company,
3rd Battalion,
311th Infantry Regiment,
78th Infantry Division
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
31 January 1945
Place of death
Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
G 11 13

Immediate family

Members
Cleo F. Hicks (father)
Hazel L. (Spray) Hicks (mother)
Paul E. Hicks (brother)
John R. Hicks (brother)
Zelma M. (Watson) Hicks (wife)

More information

Pfc Floyd W. Hicks graduated from Moscow High School in 1939. He was employed at the Consolidated Shipyard Wilmington California before he enlisted in Los Angeles, California on 22 March 1943.

He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal posthumously. The citation cited: Heavy machine gun fire stopped the advance of the platoon to which Pfc Hicks was assigned. When an American soldier attempted to capture two enemy soldiers holding up their hands in an attitude of surrender, he was shot. Pfc, seeing this action, single-handedly assaulted the position, firing his BAR [Browning Automatic Rifle] from the hip as he advanced. After advancing 75 yards he was fatally wounded by the dense fire. His heroic actions and great personal courage inspired the remaining men of the platoon to initiate an aggressive assault on the enemy and are in accordance with the highest military traditions

The picture, on which he poses with his wife, was taken right before he left to join the Army.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Whitehead Family Tree, www.fold3.com - WWII Draft Card, www.newspapers.com

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, Rhonda Ashlock