Memorial

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Sgt Edwin B. Booth graduated from Westwood High School and completed two terms at Harvard.

He enlisted in Boston, Massachusetts on 12 July 1943. He trained at Fort Benning and Camp Forrest and was promoted to sergeant in January 1945. Later that month he was wounded in action in Belgium, but returned to the front.

From an article by Mr. Booth, after visiting his son's grave at Margraten:
"As to many an American parent whose son is buried in a foreign land, so to me came the longing to visit the cemetery where he lay. he was killed in action when his regiment, the 513th Infantry, was parachuted into the German lines at Wesel, on March 24, 1945. The British troops followed in and buried him, with other American dead, on or near the field of battle. One month later his body was transferred to the United States Military Cemetery at Margraten, Holland. From that time on I longed to take my family and stand by his grave, going, as it were, to him since he could not come to us. And so we came, my wife and I, and our two sons, his brothers. We did not speak to each other much, and each knew only what was in his own mind. But I had come to stand in tribute at the grave of my son, and so his mother and brothers. It was a thing of awe and majesty to see the quiet peaceful field of crosses. Row upon row, they lie as they marched. Side by side, they sleep in death or as they had slept in camp, no rank or honor sets one aside from the other. No great room is needed for each. But perfectly spaced, in beautiful order, under clipped grass, before white crosses and stars of David of uniforms and appropriate size, each soldier's body lies. They face a little south of west, looking toward the homes they loved so much and never more shall see. We followed the broad gravel walks to the plots and came finally to stand by a cross with our own beloved name upon it."

He was first buried at Margraten in a temporary grave on 23 April 1945. He was disinterred on 12 August 1948 and his remains were prepared and placed in a casket on 17 August 1948. He was given his final resting place on 24 January 1949.