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Personal info

Full name
RANK, Joseph H
Date of birth
1914
Age
unknown
Place of birth
Chicago Heights, Cook County, Illinois
Hometown
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Military service

Service number
35838313
Rank
Private
Function
Rifleman
Unit
C Company,
1st Battalion,
317th Infantry Regiment,
80th Infantry Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
26 December 1944
Place of death
In the vicinity of Kehmen, Luxembourg

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
E 16 79

Immediate family

Members
Joseph Rank (father)
Etta M. (Weber) Rank (mother)
Dalphine D. Rank (sister)
Charles F. Rank (half-brother)
Elizabeth M. (Schaffer) Rank (wife)
Andreas Rank (son)
Joseph E. Rank (son)

More information

Pvt Joseph H. Rank graduated from Brush High School in South Euclid, Ohio and was a packing machine operator.

He enlisted at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana on 9 May 1944.

In front of the positions of C Company was a German minefield where the remains of seven members of the company were found, surrounded by mess kits, likely the remains of a Christmas dinner. Possibly the men ate their meals and headed back towards the foxholes when somebody triggered the mines.

Source of information: Leo Minne, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com – 1920/1930/1940 Census / Headstone and Interment Record / Auswanderer Neuhaus Family Tree, www.80thdivision.com

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Luxembourg American Cemetery, The Plain Dealer - 19 January 1945