Memorial

More information

Sgt Louis J. Kelly enlisted at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana on 30 March 1943.

As darkness closed in, the battalion paused for reorganization and was ordered to send patrols to contact elements of the 2nd Division scheduled to be entering the city from the west. It was a difficult night assignment, but the 1st Platoon of F Company, mounted on tanks, moved out noisily down the dark street, not knowing what awaited them.
As the first tank of the column passed beyond the huge stone railway station, there was an earsplitting explosion, and hot red fire from a panzerfaust blasted at the infantrymen riding the tank. The blast knocked most of the men off the tank, and the rest scrambled from the now-crippled tank. Another tank fired at the station, but as the shells only bounced off that fortress-like masonry, the tank commander elected to plunge into the building itself and crashed from one room to another, firing at the snipers.
In the meantime, the platoon, now dismounted, set up a perimeter defense in a small park in front of the station, while a patrol was sent back to contact the main body of troops. In the confusion of battle, the patrols missed its road back to the main body and, in the darkness, was ambushed by a machine pistol and snipers, killing Sgt Kelly.