Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
NIGGEMEYER, Donald Hamilton - Date of
birth
15 November 1921 -
Age
22 - Place of
birth
Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa -
Hometown
Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-549658 -
Rank
Second Lieutenant -
Function
Platoon Commander -
Unit
A Company,
1st Battalion,
175th Infantry Regiment,
29th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Died of Wounds - Date of
death
26 October 1944 - Place of
death
South of Geilenkirchen, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| D | 12 | 30 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Floyd W. Niggemeyer (father)
Winnifred Niggemeyer (mother)
Francis (Wagner) Niggemeyer (wife)
More information
Donald Niggemeyer attended Coe College for two years.He joined the U.S. Army Reserve in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on 24 June 1942. He joined the Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia.
He was married to Francis Wagner on 23 December 1943.
On 10 September 1944 he was sent overseas, arriving in England seven days later. From that moment he was assigned to the 175th Infantry Regiment, arriving at his unit at the time it was engaged in the fighting in the area of Geilenkirchen, Germany.
He was sent on a patrol at night, the night before he was killed, but did not have enough time to accomplish the mission. The next night, he was sent again on the same route with the same mission when he ran into an ambush. Lt Niggemeyer stepped on a land mine and died from the wounds of the explosion in a German dressing station.
The group photo was taken at Coe College on which he poses with his fellow students of the O.C.S. training course before they were sent to Fort Benning.
He is remembered at the Elmwood Cemetery in Fort Madison, Iowa.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans www.abmc.gov, CWGC-ABMC - Solomon Alexander, www.findagrave.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, Waterloo Daily Courier 2 November 1947, www.ancestry.com - 1930/1940 Census / WWII Prisoners of War
Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Solomon Alexander, Coe College Yearbook 1943