PFC Homer C. Cooper

PFC Homer C Cooper was born 7 Oct 1919 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania to William Joseph and Esther (Bennett) Cooper.  William was variously a baker, an inspector in a steel mill and crane operator. 

Homer was drafted in August 1942.  He was eventually assigned to F Company 116th Infantry on 14 Aug 1944.  He was a non-battle casualty on 12 Sep 1944 and sent to hospital.  He was sent direct from the hospital to B Company 116th Infantry on 19 Sep 1944.  On 9 Nov 1944 he was back in the hospital, again an non-battle casualty.  On 26 Jan 1945 he was back to B Company, this time from the replacement depot.  He was killed in action on 25 Feb 1945.

PFC Cooper was returned to the U.S. and buried in Grafton National Cemetery in Grafton, West Virginia.  This was likely chosen because it was close to the family and they wouldn't have to purchase a plot in the national cemetery. 

PVT Armand Anthony DiPiero

PVT Armand Anthony DiPiero was born 11 Nov 1922 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania to Cesidio and Maria Gemma (Moreschi) DiPiero. Both parents were Italian immigrants and his father was a case maker in a foundry.

When he was drafted in May 1943, Armand was an apprentice machinist.  Trained as a medic, he was sent overseas and assigned from the replacement depot to Medical Detachment 116th Infantry on 3 Jul 1944.  On 13 Jul 1944 he was attached to Headquarters Company 1st Battalion 116th Infantry to work in their aid station.  He was relieved of attachment on 18 Jul 1944.  On 3 Aug 1944 he was seriously wounded and sent to hospital.  On 25 Oct 1944 he was returned from the replacement depot to Medical Detachment 116th Infantry.  PVT DiPiero was killed in action on 21 Nov 1944.

PVT DiPiero is buried in the Grafton National Cemetery in Grafton, West Virginia.

PFC Lawrence Albert Stone

courtesy of JC

PFC Lawrence Albert Stone was born 15 Oct 1916 in Jodie, West Virginia.  He was the oldest of the 9 children born to Ira M. and Pearl Seattle (Elkins) Stone. The family lived in Jodie, Falls and Anstead in Fayette County, West Virginia where Ira worked for the Gauley Mountain Coal Company in the mines. Ira died in 1938 at the age of 48 possibly of black lung. Lawrence was 21 with no more than a grammar school education and support of the family with children as young as 3 fell on him and he too was working in the mines for Gauley.

Lawrence was drafted in July 1943 and after completing his basic military training was sent to the European theater. PVT Stone was transferred from the replacement depot to K Company 116th Infantry on 24 Jul 1944. He fought with the unit through Vire and then as it was sent with the regiment on the mission to liberate Brest, France. Promoted on 18 Aug 1944, PFC Stone was killed in action near Guilers, France on 28 Aug 1944.

PFC Stone was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in the Grafton National Cemetery in Grafton, West Virginia.

Brother, Scranton Paul Stone, served in the U.S. Army during the war but suffered frostbite so badly that he was discharged.

PFC John E. Kozak

PFC John E. Kozak was born 28 Apr 1917 in Thompson, Pennsylvania to Paul and Ann (Ruedes) Kozak. Both parents were natives of Austria-Hungary but no further details have been found. His father worked as a blacksmith. John's mother died 8 Dec 1922, his father died 1 Sep 1927.  His oldest sister and her husband, Mary and Paul Steiner, became his guardians and he was living with them in 1940.  In 1940 they were living in Franklin, Pennsylvania and John was working as a loader in a coal mine.  His reported 1939 income was $150.

After John entered the service he was sent to England and assigned to D Company 116th Infantry.  He trained with that unit for the sea-borne invasion of "fortress Europe".  PFC Kozak was killed in action on 6 Jun 1944 in the midst of the amphibious assault. 

PFC Kozak was repatriated in 1948 and is buried in the Grafton National Cemetery in Grafton, West Virginia.