PVT Robert Evan Shuttlesworth was born 19 Apr 1923 in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest child of Amelia May (Shuttlesworth) Evans. His mother's husband Harry or Henry Evans had died in 1920 and the couple had 3 children. His mother's 4th child, a daughter, also took the Shuttlesworth name and was raised by both his oldest sister and adoptive mother Alma Adell (Evans) McSurdy and youngest maternal aunt Edith (Shuttlesworth) McSurdy. After his mother died in 1924, Robert was first taken in by his maternal grandmother and then by Alma and her husband. It is unclear who Robert's father was but Alma reported that his father was William Charles Shuttlesworth who died on 26 Feb 1930 when she filed paperwork concerning Robert's death in 1950. In any case, Robert had lost both of his parents by the age of 7 and was being reared by his sister and her husband, Joseph Michael McSurdy. Joseph worked as a coal miner and truck driver. The family, including his sister's 3 children, lived in Foster, Pennsylvania. Robert graduated from high school and in 1940 he was living in Philadelphia with his half-sister, Elizabeth, and working as an electrician for Midvale Company, a steel producer.
Robert was drafted in November 1943. After his basic military training he was trained as a lineman and then sent to the European theater. PVT Shuttlesworth was transferred from the replacement depot to Headquarters 2nd Battalion 116th Infantry on 27 Jul 1944 to serve as a field lineman supporting the communications needs of the unit. PVT Shuttlesworth was killed in action near Vire, France on 7 Aug 1944.
PVT Shuttlesworth rests forever in the
Brittany American Cemetery.
Half-brother, Frederick Thomas Evans, served as a PFC in 1844th Service Command Unit during WW2.
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