Albert P. PLESEC

 CEMTERY TEMPORARY of  Neuville en Condroz N°1202

Story of Cemetery Temporary  

  On September 3, Second Lieutenant Chester H. Jordan of Company K of the 47th Infantry Regiment was ordered to take the town of Binche with the Shermans of Company F of the 32nd Armored Regiment where Corporal Albert P. Plesec serves there as a tank gunner. . Approaching the small medieval town, the Germans are forced to abandon one of their tanks and fall back. After a cautious advance, all the Binchois population waiting for them in the center, fall on them! It's party time in Binche! They are covered with flowers, have their offer of bottles of wine, beer ...

Lieutenant Jordan will write that on their arrival in the city one of their trucks was loaded with more than 150 bottles of wine that were offered to them! The lieutenant, who commands the entire detachment, positions the tanks on the main axes of the city in order to create "roadblocks". Albert and his crew are sent to the border of the small neighboring village of Epinois.

There, a few exchanges of fire with a German tank which fell back, at a place called "the coast of Mouscou" in Leval (chemin Boussart), resounded. The Sherman will take up position at the entrance to the current rue des sinistrés. Albert and one of the team members will walk to the neighboring village (Ressaix). It is at the current rue du Masy in Ressaix that he will take my grandmother in his arms and offer her a piece of chocolate ...

The next day, September 4, Corporal Plesec performs maintenance on the tank gun. When handling, the blow will accidentally come off and the recoil of the breech will hit the right side of its head. The anti-tank bus will pass through a house without causing any casualties. Immediately after the incident, he was taken by his fighting comrades to Saint-Pierre hospital in Binche. On his arrival, it is unfortunately too late. The corporal succumbed to his injuries (the day after his 29th birthday). Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus entrusted her companions with her personal effects, namely: “a wrist watch, his wedding ring and his identity plates! ".
On September 7, he will be buried with honors by the Binchois who also mourn seven supporters of the B40 killed in action a few days earlier in Waudrez. Albert will be buried in a waiting vault in the Binche communal cemetery.
On October 4, in Saukville, Wisconsin, her mother received her missing notice. He was officially declared KIA (killed in action) in February 1945. But his body went missing for the US military.
It was not until the end of March 1946 that the American army came to investigate and recover his remains at the Binche cemetery. His body is transferred to the laboratory / military cemetery of Neuville en Condroz where it will first be considered unknown X-3185 (since he no longer had his identity plates) before being formally identified. He still rests in this cemetery (lot A, row 13, grave 20).
His wife remarried in 1946. His mother died in 1947 without having been able to complete the formalities for the repatriation of her son. Her brother was seriously injured in the head by shrapnel causing severe brain damage and died in 1967 without having any descendants. Her sister Vera will continue her life in Saukville where she will run a tavern for more than fifty years and will die in 1999, she too had no children.
His name will be forgotten with us until 2021 ...

DON'T FORGET IT / NO LONGER !!!!
Sonny of « Les Jeunes du B40 »
Ps: I thank everyone who contributed to my research !!

3^rd ARMORED DIVISION - SPEARHEAD

Activated/Activé	Normandy/Normandie
15 Apr 1941	Days of Combat/Jour de Combat  231
	Casualties/Victimes  9 243
Entered Combat/Entré au combat
9 Jul 1944 at Normandy
Commanding Generals/Commandants généraux Maj. Gen. Alvan C. Gillem (Apr 41 - Jan 42) Maj. Gen. Walton H. Walker (Jan 42 - Aug 42) Maj. Gen. Leroy H. Watson (Aug 42 - Aug 44) Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose (Aug 44 - Mar 45) Brig. Gen. Doyle O. Hickey (Mar 45 - Jun 45) Brig. Gen. Truman E. Boudinot (Jun 45 - Jul 45) Brig. Gen. Frank A. Allen, Jr. (Jul 45 - Jul 45) Maj. Gen. Robert W. Grow (Jul 45 - inactivation)	Campaigns/Campagnes Normandy (6 Jun 44 - 24 Jul 44) Northern France (25 Jul 44 - 14 Sep 44) Rhineland (15 Sep 44 - 21 Mar 45) Ardennes-Alsace (16 Dec 44 - 25 Jan 45) Central Europe (22 Mar 45 - 11 May 45)
CAMPAIGN MAP OF THE EUROPEAN THEATER
DIVISION CHRONICLE The 3d Armored Division landed in Normandy and entered combat 29 June 1944, taking part in the hedgerow fighting. The Division broke out at Marigny and with the 1st Infantry Division swung south to Mayenne in a general exploitation of the St. Lo break-through. In August 1944, the Division participated in the heavy fighting involved in closing the Falaise Gap, pocketing the German Seventh Army. Six days later (25 August) the Division had cut across the Seine River, and was streaking through Meaux, Soissons, Laon, Mons, Namur, and Liege. Liege fell 8 September and Eupen on 11 September. The Division breached the Siegfried Line with the capture of Rotgen, 12 September, and continued a slow advance against heavy resistance, to the vicinity of Langerwehe. When the Battle of the Bulge broke, the Division was shifted to Houffalize, Belgium, where it severed a vital highway leading to St. Vith, and in January participated in the reduction of the German salient west of Houffalize. After a brief rest, the Division returned to the front, crossed the Roer River- into Duren, broke out of the Duren bridgehead, and drove on to capture Koln, 6 March 45. The Division swept on to Paderborn ; it was at a road junction near Paderborn that Major General Rose was killed while attempting to surrender to a German tank commander, 31 March 1945. The Division took Paderborn, assisted in mopping up the Ruhr pocket, crossed the Saale River, and after overcoming stiff resistance took Dessau, 21-23 April 1945.	CHRONIQUE DE DIVISION La 3ème division blindée débarqua en Normandie et entra au combat le 29 juin 1944, participant aux combats de haies. La division éclate à Marigny et la 1ère division d'infanterie se tourne vers le sud en direction de Mayenne pour une exploitation générale de la percée de St. Lo. En août 1944, la division participa aux combats acharnés liés à la fermeture du fossé de Falaise, empochant la septième armée allemande. Six jours plus tard (25 août), la division avait traversé la Seine et traversait Meaux, Soissons, Laon, Mons, Namur et Liège. Liège est tombé le 8 septembre et Eupen le 11 septembre. La division a franchi la ligne Siegfried avec la prise de Rotgen, le 12 septembre, et a continué sa progression lente contre une résistance importante, à proximité de Langerwehe. Lorsque la bataille des Ardennes a éclaté, la division s'est déplacée vers Houffalize, en Belgique, où elle a coupé une autoroute vitale menant à Saint-Vith, et a participé en janvier à la réduction du saillant allemand à l'ouest d'Houffalize. Après un bref repos, la division revint au front, traversa la rivière Roer jusqu'à Duren, sortit de la tête de pont de Duren et continua à capturer Cologne, le 6 mars 45. La division se dirigea vers Paderborn; C'est à un carrefour près de Paderborn que le général de division Rose a été tué alors qu'il tentait de se rendre à un commandant de char allemand, le 31 mars 1945. La division a pris Paderborn, a aidé à nettoyer la poche de la Ruhr, a traversé la Saale la résistance a pris Dessau, 21-23 avril 1945.