For Taphophile Tragic
Isaac N. Alexander
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army
Service # O-1175626
592nd Field Artillery Bn, 106th Infantry Division
Entered the Service from: Georgia
Died: 16-Dec-44
Buried at: Plot C Row 12 Grave 8
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery
Henri-Chapelle, Belgium
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
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Right beside them
Lt. Issac Newton Alexander's stone, and that led to me to the Henri Chappelle US Memorial as seen above and the burials of thousands of our fallen and the Lt. who died in the Battle of the Bulge in Ardennes sector. It was the bloodiest battle of WWII. The US Lost 89,000 men 19,000 Killed, 47,000 wounded and another 23,000 were captured!! Lt Alexander was in one of the assigned Artillery units, the 592nd, of the 106th Division, the "Golden Lions" an inexperienced unit out of Fort Jackson, SC he was part of the HHB 155mm artillery guns units. His unit was overrun and eventually, though slowing the German advance down, they had to surrender...Mr Alexander was 24 yrs old when he gave his life in attempt to stop Hitler's advance into Europe. His remains are buried in the Henri Chappelle US Memorial Cemetery, (anyone who is reading this from Blegium, I would love to see a photo of his marker) THIS stone commemorats his life and service lays next to his what I have to imagine, grief stricken parents...here in my town Camden.
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He received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart
Bronze Star Legion of Merit Purple Heart
TO the right of Issac Newton's memorial in Quaker Cem. is HIS TWIN BROTHER
Lt Col. Thomas Loryea Alexander Jr. He received the Legion of Merit award, the Purple Heart ,the Army Commendation Medal and the Italian Medal of Valor
HE survived the war having been sent to the North African Campaign
both born on June 14 1920
I have to imagine it was HE that erected the stones to his parents, and his fallen brother.
He passed away
He passed away
March 19, 2006
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One was taken right away and one lived to tell the story....
PEACE
Always sad to visit war cemeteries and see so many young lives sacrificed...
ReplyDeleteGreat photos and interesting post.
What a wonderful yet sad story. Dreadful to lose a loved one in the war, but it must have been acutely painful to lose a twin brother.
ReplyDeleteHerding Cats
http://seathreepeeo.blogspot.co.uk
A proud military family.
ReplyDeleteI look at all those crosses and read your commentary about the tens of thousands of lives lost in battle and can't help but think of how young soldiers are human cannon fodder. No matter how just the cause, I can't shake the sense of wasted lives.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! The wider view of the cemetery is amazing.
ReplyDelete35 pairs of brothers ... crikey!
ReplyDeleteYes, the wider view of the Belgian cemetery is jaw-dropping in a salutary way. I am tempted to agree with Carolyn that perhaps many of the causes are NOT just, but there are some that may be. it is so very hard to distinguish the one from the other.
I am so glad that Lt Col Alexander erected the monuents to his parents and to his fallen twin. And really appreciate the work you have put into bringing this post to us. I so want to be able to tour the Western Front before that old bucket is ready to be kicked.
How true, what hill should we die on? Thats the burning question...half the time the truth of what is really going on is buried in Political BS and Propaganda. Although I did see Hitler's regime as a threat to freedom world wide- it's such a tragedy that so many had to die to stop him.
DeleteA beautiful place. Glad these heros are remembered.
ReplyDeletei like the view from above, very pretty how they laid it out. but... sad as to why those men died..
ReplyDeletei liked to read what you managed to figure out!
War cemeteries are the saddest cemeterues of all. You are doing some great research
ReplyDeleteI believe Uncle Tommy was injured in Ardennes and Uncle Newt died in North Africa. I would love to see where you looked for your info about my namesake!!! So cool to see this! Uncle Tommy was a very sweet and funny man.
ReplyDeleteHI wow this was 6 yrs ago so I can't recall exactly where I got my info but I normally just google up stuff and keep clicking links till I find what I am looking for. This cemetery is right in my town and I always start with the info right on the stone, this is why a stone is so important even if you cremate on Find a Grave you can put up a memorial for cremated loved ones.
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