294th Engineer Combat Battalion Plaques
Details:
The Sherborne Cross memorial is within the roadside garden on the north side of the road near the monument to a member of the Wingfield-Digby family who financed the restoration of the Abbey in the 19th century. The WW1 names are on plaques around the hexagonal plinth. Two plaques with WW2 names are on the wall behind, together with one carrying the names the victims of an Air Raid on Sherborne in September 1940. Below these three plaques are two more with the names of the members of the US Army Air Forces, 294th Engineer Combat Division.
Two rectangular plaques in similar appearances, having yellow backgrounds and inscribed in English in raised lettering. The first plaque commemorates the 29 members of the C Company of the battalion who were killed in in an anti-tank mine explosion in Sherborne Park on March 20, 1944. The accident happened when a lorry slipped back onto a mine during an exercise with anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. The wheels of the lorry ran over an 8lbs. anti-tank mine and the explosion set off all the mines stacked in the lorry. Then the second plaque commemorates the soldiers who were killed in action during the battalion’s participation in different campaigns during World War II. The battalion was based in Sherborne from February to June 1944. The plaques, designed by Helen Massey-Hemmans, were dedicated by members of the 294th Engineer Combat Battalion at a ceremony held in Sherborne on June 6, 1989.
Source of information: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk , Rachel Hassall of flickr.com, studioivama.mk
Source of images: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk , Rachel Hassall of flickr.com, Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, www.findagrave.com
Monument Text:
First plaque:
294TH ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION
(-Corps of Engineers, US Army insignia-)
UNITED STATES ARMY
ON MARCH 20, 1944, WHILE COMPLETING THEIR TRAINING FOR THE INVASION OF NORMANDY, 29 MEMBERS OF C COMPANY, 294TH ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION, WERE KILLED IN AN ANTI-TANK MINE EXPLOSION IN SHERBORNE. THIS PLAQUE IS DEDICATED TO THEIR MEMORY.
(Names, 1st Column)
SGT DONALD J. WALSH |
T/5 FRANCIS X. GALLAGHER |
T/5 WARREN F. RAPP |
T/5 LAWRENCE C. SBARATTA |
PFC FRANCIS J. MURPHY |
PFC MARTIN A. NORTON |
PVT CHARLES W. BRINKOFSKI |
PVT ROBERT M. BUCELLA |
PVT EDWARD D. CHIARIERI |
PVT ANTHONY CUTRONE |
(2nd Column)
PVT JOHN P. DEEVY |
PVT JOHN W. GADEK |
PVT ROBERT GLADEN, JR |
PVT GEORGE E. GUNDY |
PVT HARRY B. HANSCHKA |
PVT JOSEPH B. HENNING |
PVT LEONARD B. KERR |
PVT STEPHEN E. KOSIOROWSKI |
PVT ROGER E. KROEGER |
(3rd Column)
PVT LEO A. LYON |
PVT JOHN J. MCHUGH |
PVT THOMAS S. NICOL |
PVT LUCIEN P. PESSOZ |
PVT CONRAD PROPP |
PVT ROBERT L. READY |
PVT ANTHONY T. RUSSO |
PVT ANDREW TER WAARBEEK |
PVT FRED. C. TRACEY |
PVT JOSEPH J. ZANELLI |
(bottom part)
(-VII Corps insignia-)
JUNE 6, 1989
Second plaque:
294TH ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION
(-Corps of Engineers, US Army insignia-)
UNITED STATES ARMY
ON JUNE 6, 1989, SURVIVING MEMBERS OF THE 294TH ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION PRESENTED THE PLAQUE TO COMMEMORATE ITS MEMBERS KILLED IN ACTION AND TO EXPRESS ITS GRATITUDE TO THE PEOPLE OF SHERBORNE FOR THEIR FRIENDSHIP IN 1944 WHILE THE BATTALION COMPLETED ITS PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF EUROPE, THE BATTALION LEFT THIS TOWN TO SERVE AS PART OF THE VII ARMY CORPS IN THE BATTLES IN NORMANDY, NORTHERN FRANCE, THE HURTGEN FOREST, THE ARDENNES, THE RHINELAND AND CENTRAL GERMANY. WE RECALL THOSE KILLED DURING THESE CAMPAIGNS.
(Names, 1st Column)
CAPT LEROY G. WEBSTER SSGT JOSEPH M. PATINO SGT EDWARD P. MICALLEF SGT JOHN MURPHY SGT PERRY J. REED |
(2nd Column)
T/5 LAWRENCE N. LUCIANO T/5 DELMAR G. TUCKER T/5 WILLIAM F. WELLS PFC EDWARD J. BILICKI PFC ALEX. M. HEIMAN PFC DANIEL J. O’KEEFE |
(3rd Column)
PFC STANLEY E. PRICE PFC KARL SCHECTER PVT FRANK P. RENDINE PVT STANLEY G. SUDA PVT ALTON L. WEAVER |
(bottom part)
NORMANDY | (-VII Corps insignia-) | CENTRAL GERMANY |
NORTHERN FRANCE | RHINELAND | |
ARDENNES | HURTGEN FOREST |
JUNE 6, 1989
Commemorates:
People:
Units:
294th Engineer Combat Battalion
United States Army
US Army Engineer Corps
VII Corps
Wars:
WWII
Other images :
