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Personal info

Full name
FLEISSNER, Paul Earnest
Date of birth
29 May 1924
Age
20
Place of birth
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Hometown
Park Ridge, Cook County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
18147961
Rank
Sergeant
Function
Squad Leader
Unit
G Company,
2nd Battalion,
405th Infantry Regiment,
102nd Infantry Division
Awards
Silver Star,
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
24 February 1945
Place of death
Near Immendorf, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
D 9 4

Immediate family

Members
Leopold Fleissner (father)
Agnes (Kostecky) Fleissner (mother)
Constantine Fleissner (brother)
Vivian Fleissner (sister)
Lucille Fleissner (sister)

More information

Sgt Paul E. Fleissner attended Maine Township High School in Park Ridge, Ill., and was a student at Oklahoma A & M University before he joined the U.S. Army Reserve in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

He was awarded the Silver Star Medal posthumously. The citation cited: After his squad was pinned down by enemy fire near Duren, Germany, and the squad leader was wounded, Sgt Fleissner assumed command. Then, with utter disregard for his own safety, he ordered the squad to seek shelter and cover him while he crawled forward over the shell-swept terrain, firing his weapon as he advanced and neutralizing three machine gun positions before he was fatally wounded.

Source of information: Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates / 1930 census, http://www.idaillinois.org - Park Ridge Public Library, http://www.chicagotribune.com - Vivienne Fleissner Becchetti (sister), 24 May 2016

Photo source: FOHF, http://www.chicagotribune.com - Vivienne Fleissner Becchetti (sister) 24 May 2016, www.idaillinois.org - Illinois Digital Archives 14 June 1945