Pfc. Thomas D. Curry

Biography and Wartime Service

Thomas Dickson Curry was born on June 30, 1913, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, to Lydia Madeleine Guenther (1882–1986) and William Dickson Curry (1873–1925). He married Wilma A. Roueche on June 4, 1938. His son David Thomas Curry was born on June 10, 1943, in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

Thomas D. Curry was called to active duty on 26 October 1943, and was sent to the reception center in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. From there he went to Camp Blanding, Florida where he underwent basic training. He was in Company B, 231st Infantry Training Battalion. The unit included men from several states, and even included T/Sgt. P.E. Rhodes from Pretoria, South Africa. After 17 weeks of training Thomas Curry received his certificate as an armorer-artificer and was transferred to Ft. George Meade, Maryland on March 4, 1944. He landed on Omaha Beach late June 1944 and was send the 41st Replacement Battalion that was stationed at Treviers, south of Omaha Beach. Thomas Curry, along with 45 other GI's, were moved to the front lines, 2 and 3/4 miles south of the town of Sainteny, where he became part of 2nd Platoon, F Company, 331st Infantry Regiment on July 17, 1944.

On December 7, 1944, the 83rd Division relieved the 4th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Hurgen Forest. F/331 attacked to clear the west bank of the Roer on 10 December, 1944. Thomas D. Curry was killed in action that morning as the Company slugged their way out of the Hurtgen and advanced to the villages of Strass and Gey. He was taken out by an 88-mm artillery shell. His Individual Deceased Personnel File indicates cause of death as 'Shrap. Chest.' For his service, he received the Combat Infantry Badge, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart Medal, the WW2 Victory Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

Thomas D. Curry is burried at the 'Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial' in Belgium. Plot B - Row 10 - Grave 35. His grave is adopted by the Schleiter family, Belgium.

I met his son David 'Dave' Curry at the Reunion of the 83rd Division Association, Nashville, Tennessee, 2012 and a second time in Cleveland, Ohio, 2017.

Thanks to Dave Curry for the story and the photos about his dad

Gallery

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