Memorial

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In 1937 T/Sgt John J. Mixer graduated from Turner High School, Kansas where he had played in the basketball team.

He received Basic training at Fort Riley. In 1941, Sgt Mixer was a private in the Army, in Troop C, 2nd Cavalry, Camp Funston, Kansas, but by 1944 he was training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, in the 271st Infantry Regiment of the 69th Infantry Division. In late 1944, the "Fighting 69th" shipped overseas to England and in January of 1945, began their advance through France into Germany. Although there were skirmishes and battles along the way, the worst of the fighting for the 271st took place in mid-April 1945. Mixer was one of the many casualties of that offensive that helped end the war in Europe.

Per Robert J. Albert: "Sergeant Mixer, the popular platoon sergeant of the Third Platoon, was hit in the leg with an 88 shell that was a dud and he came out all right. But when the Third was called up to relieve the First as point, and they were pinned down in an open field, Mixer was killed by a direct hit from a flak gun, while he was observing for gun emplacements."