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name
DAVIS, George - Date of
birth
2 October 1918 -
Age
26 -
Place of birth
Eutaw, Greene County, Alabama -
Hometown
Bessemer, Jefferson County, Alabama -
Ethnicity
African American
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
34553436 -
Rank
Private First Class -
Function
unknown -
Unit
C Battery,
333rd Field Artillery Battalion
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
17 December 1944 - Place of
death
Hauptstrasse 4
Wereth, Belgium
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| D | 10 | 61 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Clara Davis (wife)
Shirley Mae Eason (daughter)
More information
Pfc George Davis was an attendant at a filling station.He enlisted at Fort Benning, Georgia on 5 November 1942.
He was captured by German troops during the Battle of the Bulge in the town of Wereth, Belgium on 17 December 1944. He, along with 10 other prisoners, had their helmets and rifles taken, were forced to sit on the cold and wet ground until dark, and eventually made to run nearly 800 meters out of town, chased by a vehicle driven by the German soldiers. They were then brutally murdered and their bodies dumped in a roadside ditch. This atrocity is known as the Wereth Massacre or the Wereth 11.
An autopsy report on the 11 is ghastly: broken legs and arms, jaws shattered, fingers severed, bayonet wounds to the face and body, and bullet wounds designed to inflict anguish rather than death.
Since 2004, there has been a memorial at the site where these soldiers were murdered.
The complete story of the massacre can be found here: http://www.wereth.org
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com, IDPF
Photo source: www.findagrave.com, www.wereth.org