PFC Cecil Charles Totten

courtesy of SirromC

PFC Cecil Charles Totten was born 12 Aug 1914 in Orange County, Indiana. He was the 2nd of the 5 children of the Reverend John Roscoe and Anna Caroline (McIntosh) Totten. His father farmed and made tool handles in Southeast township, Indiana. Cecil worked for his father's handle making business and sometime in mid-1940 he married Ferne A. Gibbs and the couple lived in in Milltown, Indiana. 

Cecil was drafted in October 1943. After his basic military training he was sent to the European theater. PVT Totten was transfered from the replacement depot to K Company 116th Infantry on 19 Jun 1944. The regiment was experiencing a substantial influx of replacements for the soldiers killed and wounded in the first 2-weeks of the invasion of occupied France. PVT Totten survived the early fighting in the bocage, the warren of fields and hedges that characterized the French farms, and was promoted to PFC on 18 Jul 1944 after the liberation of Saint-Lo. He then fought with his unit as it participated in the liberated of Vire and moved to the attack on the Germans occupying Brest in Brittany. PFC Totten was killed in action on 25 Aug 1944. 

PFC Totten rests forever in the Brittany American Cemetery. 

Ferne never re-married and the couple had no children. Ferne passed away in 2005. Great-grandfather, Edward R. Rawlings, served as a PVT in C Company 49th Indiana Infantry (USA). Jonathan McIntosh served as a PVT in F Company 59th Indiana Infantry (USA).