2LT Chester Sylvester Cabaj

2LT Chester Sylvester Cabaj was born 8 Jun 1915 in Dunkirk, New York to Stanislaus and Jozefa/Josephine (Sczesniak) Cabaj.  Both his parents were Polish immigrants.  Stanislaus worked as a locomotive mechanic and the family moved quite a bit, living in Michigan and Pennsylvania before living in Dunkirk when Chester was born. Jozefa died in March 1923 at the age of 37.  In 1940, Chester was working as a shipping clerk at the Allegheny Ludium steel plant with a reported income of $1300 in 1939.

Chester was drafted in Jan 1941.  He must have exhibited good leadership qualities to have been selected for Officer Candidate School.  After commissioning in April 1943 he was first sent to Camp Walters in Texas before going to Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands.  2LT Cabaj was departed the U.S. for  England on 10 Jun 1944. He was assigned to L Company 116th Infantry from the replacement depot on 17 Jul 1944 to serve as a Platoon Leader.  He was killed in action 3 days later on 20 Jul 1944.

2LT Cabaj is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery.