Pfc. Elwood E. Kreger

Biography and Wartime Service

Elwood Edwin Kreger was born on September 3, 1924, in Sugarbush, Wisconsin to Flora Madeline Templar and Edwin Julius Kreger.

Elwood Kreger was inducted in the Army on March 18, 1943 and entered the service as a draftee on March 25, 1943 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. During his training period, he received the Marksmanship Qualification Badges, the Marksman Badge with 'M-1 Rifle' bar (June 5, 1943), the Sharpshooter Badge with 'Carbine' bar (July 15, 1943) and the Expert Badge with 'Bayonet' bar (August 20, 1943).

Elwood Kreger received his training with the 78th Infantry Division. He left the US on May 12, 1944 and arived in England on May 24, 1944. The Morning Report from July 10, 1944 listed Kreger, Elwood E. Pfc. as assigned and joined from the 48th Replacement Battalion to Company F of the 331st Infantry Regiment (SO#124, Hq 83rd Inf.Div.). The 331st received 2110 Replacements during the month of July 1944. Elwood was wounded three times, twice in France and one time in Germany. A first time on July 16, 1944 while the second battalion was attacking Le Village Des Saints, a second time on August 10, 1944 while fighting in the vicinity of St. Malo. He was reported Missing In Action when he was wounded a third time on December 14, 1944, while Company F was hit hard by mortar and artillery fire attacking in the vicinity of Berzbuir (Gey), Hurtgen Forest, Germany. Morning Report entry on December 20, 1944, Lightly Wounded in Action and transferred to 96th Evacuation Hospital on December 14, 1944, which corrects MIA.

After the war Elwood married Edith M. Washtock on September 28, 1946.

Elwood Edwin Kreger died at the St. Agnes Hospital on June 11, 2001, and is buried at the Saint Peters Cemetery in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. At the time of his dead, he was survived by his wife Edith M. Kreger.

I met his widow Edith Kreger at the 83rd Reunion in Arlington, Virginia, 2013.

Gallery

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