Tec 5. Andrew Wayne Kunkel

Biography and Wartime Service

Andrew Wayne Kunkel was assigned to L Company, 331st Infantry Regiment while at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky. He was sent overseas with this unit and landed on Omaha Beach in mid-June 1944. The 83rd Infantry Division then relieved the 101st Airborne Division outside of Carentan, France and was ordered to continue the fight and try and break out of the hedgerow country. On July 4, 1944 the 83rd started off the offensive towards Sainteny. The 331st Infantry Regiment of which Wayne was a part experienced one of its worst days of the entire war losing over 1000 casualties in that single day. Wayne was hit as well and brought to a hospital but quickly returned to the lines after being patched up. On July 5 however he found himself back at the hospital but with no recollections of what happened. He was diagnosed with blast concussion and put in training for clerical duty. Wayne returned to non-combat duty on August 16, 1944 in France with the 16th Replacement Battalion and would later work for the Stars And Stripes newspaper in Paris. In 2009 he returned to Normandy with his sons to find the location where he fought and was wounded on that faithful July 4, 1944. Wayne Kunkel was a proud member of the 83rd Infantry Division Association and regular attendee of the annual reunions.

Click on the pictures below to read more of Wayne Kunkel's story during WW2 and his return to Normandy.
All stories and pictures courtesy of the Kunkel family

WW2 History

Medical History

Return to Normandy

Gallery

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