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Personal info

Full name
BROOKS, Hugh Torbert
Date of birth
19 June 1923
Age
21
Place of birth
Rochester County, New York
Hometown
Groton, Tompkins County, New York

Military service

Service number
11064869
Rank
Technician Fifth Grade
Function
Radio Operator, Low Speed
Unit
87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized),
7th Armored Division,
D Troop
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Died of Wounds
Date of death
2 January 1945
Place of death
Niederprüm, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
B 41 46

Immediate family

Members
George S. Brooks (father)
Helen (Clark) Brooks (mother)
Helen D. Brooks (sister)
David M. Brooks (brother)

More information

T/5 Hugh T. Brooks graduated from Groton High School and entered Yale in 1941. He withdrew from college and volunteered for the Army of the United States on 5 February 1942.

He was serving as a machine gunner. He was cut off during the withdrawal of his unit from the vicinity of St Vith.

In March 1947 an investigation was conducted in the vicinity of Regné, Belgium in an effort to locate his remains with negative results.

Later it could be determinated that he was taken prisoner in the vicinity of the crossroads at Baraque de Fraiture, Belgium on 23 December 1944.

He died in Dulag 377 from wounds suffered in battle.

His remains were discovered in Niederprüm on 29 August 1947 in a mass grave. According to German records he was killed during an allied air raid on the camp together with five other American prisoners of war.

He was initially buried in a temporary grave at Ardennes on 4 September 1947. After this cemetery was given a permanent status, he was given his final resting place in March 1949.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, http://www.7tharmddiv.org/index.htm, Obituary 1944-1945, IDPF

Photo source: Guy Maes