PVT Erwin Norman Wegener was born in Niagara Falls, New York on 5 Aug 1925. He was the 4th of 5 children of Chester Clarence and Florence Barbara (Zimmer) Wegener. The Wegener family lived on Grove Avenue in Niagara Falls since before 1900 and Erwin grew up living at 1041 Grove Avenue which the family owned and which was valued at $4200 in 1940. His father was a tool maker earning a reported $2038 in 1939 which was a good income for the time. Erwin completed only 1-year of high school before going to work for the New York Central Rail Road maintaining the Whirlpool Bridge over the Niagara River.
Erwin was drafted in November 1943 and after about 5-months of basic military training was sent to England in May or June 1944. PVT Wegener was transferred from the replacement depot to F Company 116th Infantry on 14 Aug 1944 to serve as a machine gunner. He was killed in action in Brest, France on 17 Sep 1944.
PVT Wegener was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in the Riverdale Cemetery in Lewiston, New York.
Ervin's 2 older brothers, James Francis Wegener and Chester A. Wegener, also served in the U.S. Army during the second world war.
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