Lieutenant Colonel, John Bourke DALY No : 0-017194. U.S. Army WW2.
Division Artillery, 90th Infantry Division. KIA 18 August 1944 at Normandy France
Awards : Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster. From Minisota USA . He is officer on right This man is my cousin
Buried at Memorial Cemetery: Brittany American Cemetery
Memorial Country: St. James, France
Memorial Location: Plot E Row 4 Grave 1
Awards:
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
Regiment: Division Artillery, 90th Infantry Division
The 90th Infantry Division landed in England, 5 April 1944, and trained
from 10 April to 4 June.
First elements of the division saw action on D-Day, 6 June, on Utah
Beach, Normandy, the remainder entering combat 10 June, cutting across
the Merderet River to take Pont l'Abbe in heavy fighting. After defensive action along the river Douve, the division attacked to clear
the Foret de Mont-Castre (Hill 122), clearing it by 11 July, in spite
of fierce resistance. In this action the Division suffered 5000 killed,
wounded, or captured, one of the highest casualty rates suffered in WW
II. An attack on the island of Saint-Germain-sur-Sèves on 23 July
failed so the 90th bypassed it and took Périers on 27 July.
On 12 August, the division drove across the Sarthe River, north and
east of Le Mans, and took part in the closing of the Falaise Gap, by
reaching 1st Polish Armored Division in Chambois, 19 August , when John
was KIA .
the 90th Infantry Division as a whole, experienced some vicious combat
during that period in Normandy. The unit was next to THEM ON THE LEFT ,
the 8th Infantry Division during most of July 1944. Two terrible
battles that your great uncle fought were Hill 122, or the Foret de
Mont Castre, a forested covered hill that was defended in depth by the
Germans. Another ferocious battle was called "The Island." This was actually a piece of high ground with a river on one side and swamps on
the other. The Germans had flooded the area prior to D-Day. The only
way to advance for the 90th Division was through this heavily defended
"island" that contained one German machine gun nest after another. In
both battles, the 90th Division took serious casualties. The American
high command blamed the 90th Division for slow progress. They,
particularly the then commander of First US Army Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley,
believed that the problem was at division command. He relieved two
division commanders until he got results. At one point, Bradley even
considered disbanding the whole 90th Division, and parceling them out
to other units. The 90th Division went on to be one of the best units
in General Patton's famed Third Army.
|