Henry Hardy BOSWELL

Source : Ellen Marchese 

Parents : Jesse Bruce & Frances Ida Hurdle BOSWELL

Siblings : Jesse Bryan, Wilma Keyes, Inez Mae & Rupert Dean

Source : Leonardo De Rosa

 CEMETERY TEMPORARY of  Blosville N°3508

Story of Cemetery Temporary  

Map of Normandy American Cemetery

Source : Ancestry

Private Henry Hardy Boswell, U.S. Army

SN 34475240

Henry Hardy Boswell, the son of Ida H. and Jesse Bruce Boswell, was born in the Mount Pleasant community of Marshall County, Mississippi, on 13 June 1909. Later Army records recorded his birth one day earlier, on 12 June, but Henry himself gave 13 June when he registered for the draft.

Henry grew up in a large dairy farming family in northern Mississippi. He attended school through four years of high school. In 1940, he was farming with his father. When Henry registered for the draft on 16 October 1940, the registrar described Henry as five feet eleven inches tall and about 165 pounds, with blue eyes, brown hair, and a light complexion.

Henry entered the Army at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, on 28 October 1942. He was thirty-three years old—older than many of the young men entering the wartime Army—and brought with him the practical experience and physical endurance of a farmer. His surviving records do not reveal all his training stations or the date on which he joined his combat unit.

By the summer of 1944, Private Boswell was assigned to Company D of the 315th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division. The division wore the Cross of Lorraine as its shoulder insignia, recalling the division’s service in France during World War I.

The 79th Division crossed the English Channel shortly after D-Day and landed on Utah Beach between 12 and 14 June 1944. It entered combat on 19 June during the drive toward Cherbourg. The 315th Infantry fought through the hedgerow country, cleared German positions around Hardinvast, and entered the Cherbourg area as the city’s defenses collapsed.

After Cherbourg fell, the 79th turned south. Its next major objective was La Haye-du-Puits, an important road center commanding routes toward the Ay River and the interior of Normandy. The Germans had transformed the region into a network of defensive positions. Mines covered the approaches. Automatic weapons and light artillery were concealed in hedgerows, while snipers, mortars, concrete emplacements, dug-in tanks, and barbed wire protected the town and the surrounding heights.

The division began its attack on 3 July. The 315th Infantry advanced through successive hedgerows toward the Montgardon ridge and a height the soldiers called “Bloody Hill.” Progress was measured field by field. Earthen banks and thick vegetation limited visibility and separated units, while German artillery struck roads, fields, and likely avenues of approach. On 6 July, the 315th captured Hill 84, helping outflank La Haye-du-Puits. The fighting had been extraordinarily costly: the 79th Division suffered more than 2,000 killed, wounded, and missing during the first five days of the attack.

La Haye-du-Puits fell on 8 July, but taking the town did not end the battle. Soldiers still had to clear Bloody Hill and the surrounding countryside. German units remained in crossroads, villages, and isolated strongpoints. Roads south and east of the town were heavily mined, and rain restricted air support while turning the Norman countryside into mud. Tanks and tank destroyers repeatedly moved forward to help infantrymen eliminate pockets of resistance. The division eventually received orders to hold the north bank of the Ay River, but enemy fire and local counterattacks continued.

It was amid this continuing struggle that Henry Boswell was killed on 12 July 1944. The official records do not identify the exact location or describe the action in which he was hit. A reconstructed Army hospital-admission record states that he suffered a battle wound to his back caused by a bullet or other missile. The same record report indicates that the wound proved fatal.

Henry was first buried in the temporary American military cemetery at Blosville, France. At the request of his brother, he was later reinterred at Normandy American Cemetery where he rests today.

The Army initially sent correspondence and Henry’s remaining money to his mother, Ida. She did not live long after learning of his death. Ida Boswell died on 1 September 1944. Henry’s brother Rupert subsequently informed the Army that their mother had died and returned a check made payable to her. Rupert handled matters concerning Henry’s effects, while Jesse B. Boswell ultimately chose permanent burial in France. His family placed a memorial for him in the family cemetery in Marshall County.

Private Henry Hardy Boswell left the farms of Marshall County to serve as an infantryman in one of the most demanding campaigns of World War II. He fell as the regiment continued fighting through the Norman hedgerows toward the Ay River. Today, his grave in Normandy marks the resting place of a Mississippi dairyman who gave his life in the liberation of France.

Source : MichaelH127 

Boswell Cemetery Marshall, MISSISSIPPI

Source : Nikkmed911

Source : Ancestry 

Source : Ancestry 

79^th INFANTRY DIVISION - CROSS OF LORRAINE

Activated/Activé	Normandy/Normandie
15 Jun 1942	Days of Combat/Jour de Combat  248
	Casualties/Victimes 15 203
Entered Combat/Entré au combat
19 Jun 1944 Normandy
Commanding Generals/Commandants généraux Maj. Gen. Ira T. Wyche (Jun 42 - May 45) Brig. Gen. LeRoy H. Watson (May 45 - Jul 45) Maj. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe (Jul 45 - Aug 45) Brig. Gen. LeRoy H. Watson (Aug 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) Central Europe (22 Mar 45 - 11 May 45)
PLAN DE ROUTE DE LA CAMPAGNE - CAMPAIGN ROUTE MAP
DIVISION CHRONICLE Après s'être entraînée au Royaume-Uni à partir du 17 avril 1944, la 79th Infantry Division débarque à Utah Beach, en Normandie, du 12 au 14 juin et entre en combat le 19 juin 1944 sur les hauteurs ouest et nord-ouest de Valognes. Cherbourg. La Division prend Fort du Roule après un engagement fort et est entrée à Cherbourg, le 25 juin. Il a tenu une ligne défensive à la rivière d'Ollonde jusqu'au 2 juillet 1944 et est ensuite retourné à l'offensive, prenant la Haye du Puits dans les combats de porte à porte, le 8 juillet. Le 26 juillet, le 79e attaqua de l'autre côté de la rivière Ay, prit Lessay, traversa la Sarthe et entra au Mans le 8 août, ne rencontrant qu'une faible résistance. L'avancée se poursuit de l'autre côté de la Seine, le 19 août. Les contre-attaques allemandes lourdes ont été repoussées du 22 au 27 août et la Division a atteint la rivière Therain le 31 août. Passant rapidement à la frontière franco-belge près de Saint-Amand, la division rencontre une forte résistance en prenant Charmes dans les combats de rue, le 12 septembre. La 79ème traversée de la Moselle et de la Meurthe, du 13 au 23 septembre, a nettoyé la Foret de Parroy dans un engagement sévère, du 28 septembre au 9 octobre, et a attaqué pour gagner des hauteurs à l'est d'Embermenil, 14-23 octobre. , 24 octobre. Après le repos et l'entraînement à Lunéville, la division est revenue au combat avec une attaque de la région de Mignevine -Montiguy, le 13 novembre 1944, qui a traversé les rivières Vezouse et Moder, du 18 novembre au 10 décembre, en passant par Haguenau malgré la résistance déterminée de l'ennemi. dans la ligne Siegfried, 17-20 décembre. La division tenait une ligne de défense le long de la Lauter, à Wissembourg du 20 décembre 1944 au 2 janvier 1945, date à laquelle elle se replia sur les défenses de la ligne Maginot. La tentative allemande d'établir une tête de pont à l'ouest du Rhin à Gambsheim a donné lieu à des combats furieux. Le 79e a battu les attaques allemandes à Hatten et Rittershoffen dans une bataille de 11 jours avant de se replier vers de nouvelles positions défensives au sud de Haguenau sur la rivière Moder, le 19 janvier 1945. La Division est restée sur la défensive le 6 février 1945. En février et mars 1945, la Division retourne au combat, le 24 mars 1945, traverse le Rhin, traverse le canal Rhin-Herne le 7 avril, sécurise la rive nord de la Ruhr et participe au dégagement de la poche de la Ruhr jusqu'au 13 avril. La division a ensuite successivement occupé des fonctions d'occupation dans les régions de Dortmund, des Sudètes et de Bavière jusqu'à son retour aux États-Unis et son inactivation.	CHRONIQUE DE DIVISION After training in the United Kingdom from 17 April 1944, the 79th Infantry Division landed on Utah Beach, Normandy, 12-14 June and entered combat 19 June 1944, with an attack on the high ground west and northwest of Valognes and high ground south of Cherbourg. The Division took Fort du Roule after a heavy engagement and entered Cherbourg, 25 June. It held a defensive line at the Ollonde River until 2 July 1944 and then returned to the offensive, taking La Haye du Puits in house-to-house fighting, 8 July. On 26 July, the 79th attacked across the Ay River, took Lessay, crossed the Sarthe River and entered Le Mans, 8 August, meeting only light resistance. The advance continued across the Seine, 19 August. Heavy German counterattacks were repulsed, 22-27 August, and the Division reached the Therain River, 31 August. Moving swiftly to the Franco-Belgian frontier near St. Amand, the Division encountered heavy resistance in taking Charmes in street fighting, 12 September. The 79th cut across the Moselle and Meurthe Rivers, 13-23 September, cleared the Foret de Parroy in a severe engagement, 28 September-9 October, and attacked to gain high ground east of Embermenil, 14-23 October, when it was relieved, 24 October. After rest and training at Luneville, the Division returned to combat with an attack from the MignevineMontiguy area, 13 November 1944, which carried it across the Vezouse and Moder Rivers, 18 November-10 December, through Haguenau in spite of determined enemy resistance, and into the Siegfried Line, 17-20 December. The Division held a defensive line along the Lauter River, at Wissembourg from 20 December 1944 until 2 January 1945, when it withdrew to Maginot Line defenses. The German attempt to establish a bridgehead west of the Rhine at Gambsheim resulted in furious fighting. The 79th beat off German attacks at Hatten and Rittershoffen in an 11-day battle before withdrawing to new defensive positions south of Haguenau on the Moder River, 19 January 1945. The Division remained on the defensive along the Moder until 6 February 1945. After resting in February and March 1945, the Division returned to combat, 24 March 1945, crossed the Rhine, drove across the Rhine-Herne Canal, 7 April, secured the north bank of the Ruhr and took part in clearing the Ruhr Pocket until 13 April. The Division then went on occupation duty, in the Dortmund, Sudetenland, and Bavarian areas successively, until its return to the United States and inactivation.

Source : MichaelH127

Parents : Jesse Bruce & Frances Ida Hurdle BOSWELL

Siblings : Henry H, Wilma Keyes, Inez Mae & Rupert Dean

Source : Fold3

Source : Fold3