PFC George Kerber

PFC George Kerber was born in 1923 in Englewood, New Jersey to Henry Clinton and Florence Christina (Fechhelm) Kerber. His father was a house carpenter but by 1940 4 of the older sons were supporting the family of 15 and they reported a 1939 income of $2700.

George was drafted in April 1943.  At that time he had been working in manufacturing. After his initial training he was sent to England and assigned to E Company 116th Infantry. He trained with the unit for the pending amphibious assault on "fortress Europe".  He was killed in that action on 6 Jun 1944.

"The unit encountered an enemy pill box. Sgt Maurice Hatchett fired two rounds into it from his bazooka. Despite the fact that the range was three hundred yards, these rounds completely silenced the box. Later some men went up to this position and found that it contained a 75 mm gun. After about ten minutes Pfc Porter Boggis started cutting the wire in a gap in the sea wall. The wire was a single strand type and caused little delay. Though several men were wounded on the beach, approximately 55 men crouched low and ran thru the beach in the wire. Some 75 yards beyond the wire was an AT ditch which the men used for cover. One man was killed by MG fire while still in the ditch but the men could not advance as a heavy mine field blocked their path. An hour passed then Pvt. Kerber went forward to attempt to blow a path thru the filed with a bangalore torpedo. Unfortunately, he set off a mine and was killed." 

PFC Kerber is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery.