Karl Edward “Ed” Oppen was born on December 28, 1919, in Dodsland, Saskatchewan, Canada. He was the son of Gilbert Oppen and Bessie May Rogers Oppen.

Pvt Karl was a member of Company B, 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division. After fighting in North Africa, 1942. Then to the beaches of Sicily where they defeated the German Goering Panzer Division and on to the city of Palermo, Italy on the 23rd of July 1943. Leaving the old equipment, they sailed to south England and were issued new equipment and picked up the 99th Infantry Battalion (Norwegian army) made up of Norwegian immigrants and some that escaped from Norway. On June 8, 1944, they landed on Omaha beach and attacked the German strongholds in Brittany and Normandy. It took a hard month of vicious counterattacks and long supply lines. Hasselt, Belgium was reached on September 7. They entered South Limburg, the Netherlands, on September 15, 1944. Ed was wounded and died near the town of Maastricht, on September 16, 1944. Pvt Oppen is now buried in the Veterans Cemetery, Roslyn, Kittitas County, Washington, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com,