Paul Franklin HARKLEROAD

Spouse : Mabel B. DRISSEL

Parents : Samuel K. & Ella Susan Shipley HARKLEROAD

Siblings : George Kelly, Audie Bruce & Henry Clay

Source : Etvma.org

CEMTERY TEMPORARY of  -- N°--

Story of Cemetery Temporary 

Map of Normandy American Cemetery

Captain Paul Franklin Harkleroad, 30, of Kingsport, Tennessee, was killed on Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He was serving with the Fifth Engineering Special Brigade.

He was a graduate of Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport, where he was an outstanding athlete, and held an engineering degree from the University of Tennessee. He volunteered for the Army on June 8, 1941. His father died of tuberculosis in 1934. An older brother, Dana, also served in the Army during the war.

His death is described as follows by the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial (see link below):

Capt. Paul F. Harkleroad was born in Sullivan County, TN, on Nov. 29, 1913. His parents were Samuel K. and Ella S. Shipley Harkleroad. In 1943 he married Mabel B. Drissel before he was ordered to WWII.

Mabel moved to Washington DC where she lived when she was notified of Paul’s death during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, due to a mortar shell exploding as he stepped onto the beach.

The same shell also killed his commander, Lt. Col. Lionel F. SMITH, and fellow staff officer, Capt. Allen H. COX, Jr.

Source : Susan Keener

Lieutenant Colonel Lionel F SMITH

Source : Honorstates.org

Capitaine Allen Howard COX

Source : Findagrave.com

A monument stands on the bluffs overlooking Omaha Beach and lists the names of all men who gave their lives along with their units, all attached to the 5th Engineering Special Brigade. The 5th was tasked to clear the beach of German built obstacles designed to slow an invasion.

Captain Harkleroad is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

Source : PJ Cooper

Mabel B. & Paul F

Source : Etvma.org

Source : Etvma.org

Source : Etvma.org