Soldier News continued - 1945

Lieut. Paul Fairbanks Dies of Wounds

Bainbridge News & Republicans, February 1, 1945

 

 

 Lieut. Paul Fairbanks

 

Second Lieutenant Paul Douglas Fairbanks, 28, of the 3rd Armored Division, 1st Army, and son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis B. Fairbanks, of Greenlawn avenue, Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], is reported to have died in a hospital in Belgium on Jan. 4 as a result of wounds received in action on the western front.  Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks had received word on Monday, Jan. 22, that their son had been seriously wounded on Jan. 3 and on the following day they were notified of his death.

 

Entering the service on April 7, 1941, he received his basic training at Fort Bragg, N.C., and in July, 1942, was graduated from the Armored Forces Officers Candidate School at Fort Knox, Ky.  On May 1, 1944, he went overseas with an Excess Officers Division and later was assigned to a Combat Engineers Unit with which he entered Normandy on June 8 and served with through France and Belgium.  In November he was re-assigned to the 3rd Armored Division.

 

Lieutenant Fairbanks was born in Bainbridge on April 29, 1916.  He attended Bainbridge High School, graduating with the Class of 1935.  During his Junior and Senior years, he starred on the football team and for two consecutive years was chosen as center on the all-star team of the Susquehanna division of the Susquenango League in the annual game.  He attended Swarthmore College for one year of post-graduate work and then entered the University of Wisconsin where he completed three years of college work.  He was a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, serving as acolyte for 10 years.  He was active as a member of the Boy Scouts, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout.  During the summer of 1932, he was selected to go to Washington D.C., to the National Scout Jamboree, but due to the infantile paralysis epidemic, the convention was postponed.  On June 8, 1943, Lieutenant Fairbanks was married to Miss Katherine Wheat, of Louisville, Ky., at the Chapel at Camp Campbell, Ky., by Major James Clark.  Mrs. Fairbanks is in nurses' training at the Norton Infirmary (Episcopal Hospital), Louisville, Ky., from which she will be graduated in June.

 

Besides his wife and parents, Lieutenant Fairbanks is survived by two sisters, Mrs. William Fairbanks, of New York, ad Miss Helen Fairbanks, of Washington, D.C.; a brother, Pvt. Charles H. Fairbanks, of New Caledonia; and a nephew, Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr., of Macon, Ga.

 

Sgt. Vernon Francisco Gives Life; Sgt. Herman Gurtner Missing

Bainbridge News & Republican, February 1, 1945

 

One Delaware County soldier died of wounds received in action and one has been reported missing, according to word received by members of their families recently.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Elton Francisco, who reside on a farm near Delhi [Delaware Co., NY], were advised by the War Department that their son, Sgt. Vernon L. Francisco, a paratrooper, had died of wounds suffered in action in Belgium on Jan. 4.  They had previously been advised that he had been wounded.  The eleventh Delhi soldier to pay the supreme sacrifice since Pearl Harbor, Sergeant Francisco had been in service since November, 1942.  Since being sent overseas he had participated in campaigns in Sicily, Italy, North Africa, France and Holland. 

 

According to word received by his wife, the former Miss Grace Finch, of Margaretville, Sgt. Herman Gurtner has been missing in action on the Western Front since Dec. 25.

 

Pvt. Francis Sherwood Seriously Wounded

Bainbridge News & Republican, February 8, 1945

 

Mrs. Francis Sherwood received a telegram from the War Department Saturday stating that her husband, Pvt. Francis Sherwood had been seriously wounded in Belgium on Jan. 17.  Private Sherwood, who is a member of the 23rd Infantry, 2 Division, First Army, is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Sherwood. 

 

Joseph Benenati Gets Marine Commission

Bainbridge News & Republican, February 8, 1945

 

Joseph J. Benenati, a member of Troop C, State Police, until his enlistment in the marines in 1942, has been given a field commission as a lieutenant.  The former trooper wrote of his promotion in a letter to Police Chief Floyd L. Allen, of Johnson City, also a former Troop C member.  Lieutenant Benenati, whose home was in Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], was well known in this area, and was attached for some time to the troop's Endwell substation.  In the letter to Chief Allen, the lieutenant indicated that he was stationed in the Pacific theatre, and said the commission was awarded in the field.  He also discounted reports that he had been wounded on Saipan, and added "I am in top shape and still doing plenty of hunting and still able to dig a foxhole." 

 

Mr. & Mrs. Sherman Receives Son's Purple Heart

Bainbridge News & Republican, February 8, 1945

 

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Sherman have received the Purple Heart awarded to their son, T/5 Alvin L. Sherman, of the 358th Infantry 90 Division, for wounds received on the Western Front.

 

John Burgin Promoted

Bainbridge News & Republican, February 15, 1945

 

John I. Burgin, M.M. 2/C, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Burgin, of Franklin [Delaware Co., NY] and formerly of Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], was recently promoted to Special Artifice of Optics.  He has been in the Mediterranean area for the past two years.  Before entering the service he attended D.L.L. and was a graduate of Bainbridge Central High School. 

 

Guy Leonard Awarded Navy Wings

Bainbridge News & Republican, February 16, 1945

 

Guy J. Leonard, 21, son of Mrs. Lena LeSuer, of R.D.1, Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], was commissioned an Ensign in the Naval Reserve and designated a Naval Aviator recently at the Naval Air Training Bases, Pensacola, Fla.  Having completed his intermediate training at the "Annapolis of the Air," he will be ordered to duty either at an instructor's school for further training or at an operational base.  He is now spending a two-weeks' leave with his mother Mrs. LeSuer.