PFC George Owen Pricopoulos

George in 1936

PFC George Owen Pricopoulos was born 12 Aug 1918 in Springfield, Massachusets. He was the eldest of the 4 children born to Greek immigrants, Theophanis and Rena (Tavoularis) Pricopoulos. George's father had worked at a wholesale meat house in 1920 but left the family for a while and Rena supported them by taking in lodgers at the home at 786 Worthington in Springfield. It seems that all the children attended Classical High School in Springfield and George graduated in 1936. George apparently intended to attend Northeastern Law School but in 1940 he was working as a gas station attendant. However, it seems that he did manage to attend 1 year of college. The family lived at 761 Worthington Street in Springfield, renting it for $20 a month (and his sister Ellen would still be living there in 1952). George's father had returned to the family but was not working.

George volunteered for the Army and enlisted on 16 Dec 1941. It is possible that George was assigned to L Company 116th Infantry and began training with the unit before they departed for England in September 1942. Once there, the 116th trained for the planned amphibious landings on the Normandy beaches that were to be a part of the Allied invasion of occupied France. George was killed in action in that landing on 6 Jun 1944.

PFC Pricopoulos was certainly repatriated and is likely interred in a cemetery in the Springfield area.

George's brother, John Witherspoon Pricopoulos served in the U.S. Army Air Corps and rose to the rank of MSG.