Missing information?

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

Submit

Personal info

Full name
OLSON, Rudolph
Date of birth
3 March 1907
Age
37
Place of birth
Cokato, Wright County, Minnesota
Hometown
Cokato, Wright County, Minnesota

Military service

Service number
37271131
Rank
Technician Fifth Grade
Function
unknown
Unit
Service Company,
743rd Tank Battalion,
Maintenance Platoon
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
19 November 1944
Place of death
Kellersberg, South of Alsdorf, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
F 5 7

Immediate family

Members
William Olson (father)
Nathalia Olson (mother)
Ellen M. Olson (sister)
Wilford Olson (brother)
Holger V. Olson (brother)
Gladys E. Olson (sister)
Stanley L. Olson (brother)
Gordon A. Olson (brother)

More information

T/5 Rudolph Olson was a truck driver.

He enlisted in April 1942 and was sent overseas in October 1943.

T/5 Olson was a member of his unit since the activation in Fort Lewis, Washington on 16 May 1942.

In one of his latest letters home, he reported he was living in a basement in a German town.

At 2.45 am, an enemy airplane dropped several bombs. A direct hit on one of the houses, occupied by Service Company, killed 8 men, all members of Battalion Maintenance Platoon.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, Astrid van Erp, www.wwiimemorial.com, http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org - After Action Report 743rd Tank Battalion, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / 1930 Census, www.newspapers.com - The Minneapolis Star Tribune, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, Family collection, Gust Akerlund Collection, Cokato Museum & Historical Society, Cokato MN, USA