PFC George Ackley Stearns

courtesy of Randy

PFC George Ackley Stearns was born 1 Oct 1917 in Masontown, Pennsylvania. He was the oldest of the 2 sons born to Ackley Albert Canan and Elizabeth (Nugent) Stearns. His father drove a truck for a coal mine, as a mechanic in a garage. The boys were on their own with their mom who was a working as a machine operator in a distillery. Elizabeth reported a 1939 income of $136. George and his younger brother were working for a local gas company reporting a 1939 income of $320 and $315. They paid $15 a month rent for the apartment at 218 Brashear Street in Brownsville, Pennsylvania.

George was drafted in February 1942. After he completed his basic military training he was sent to England and assigned to D Company 116th Infantry. While assigned to the regiment he trained for the planned amphibious assault that was to be part of the liberation of occupied France. PFC Stearns was killed in action on 6 Jun 1944.

PFC Stearns was repatriated in 1947 and re-interred in LaFayette Memorial Park in Brier Hill, Pennsylvania. 

George's brother, Jack Stearns, served in the 11th Airborne as a SGT, 1942-1945. George's mother served in the Womens Army Corps as a PFC, with the Army Air Force. George's father served as a PVT in the Machine Gunners Training Corps, 1917-1918. His great-grandfather, Daniel Merrill Stearns served as a 2LT in the 37th Pennsylvania Infantry and as a CPT commanding A and D Company 104th Ohio Infantry (USA) during the Civil War.