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Munzinger John S.

Name:
John S. Munzinger
Rank:
First Lieutenant
Serial Number:
O-1184554
Unit:
Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion
Date of Death:
1944-12-17
State:
New York
Cemetery:
Long Island National Cemetery, New York
Plot:
H
Row:
Grave:
8626
Decoration:
Purple Heart
Comments:

John S. Munzinger was born on July 15, 1914. He resided in New York Coutny, New York prior to the war. John served as a First Lieutenant in the Field Artillery, U.S. Army during World War II. He was Killed in Action on December 17, 1944 at the age of 30 and is now buried in the Long Island National Cemetery, East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York, USA. 1Lt Munzinger was one of the victims of Malmedy massacre when German SS soldiers of the 1st Panzer Division captured over 100 American soldiers at Baugnez Crossroads outside Malmedy, Belgium, on 17 December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge and, under orders to take no prisoners, placed them in an open field and then machine gunned them. When the machine guns stopped, the SS went through the field where some victims were still alive and systematically finished them off with pistols at short range leaving 84 soldiers dead when they had finished. Fortunately, when the machine guns first started shooting, a number of soldiers ran and some managed to escape and tell the story of how the Germans had treated the others who had not survived.