What Town in WWII? Memorial for PFC Edward Thomas Quinn

[Bikerchick64]

Hello, this is a photograph of my 1sts cousin 1x removed who was born in NY and served in WWII only to die at Normandy in Oct 1944.  My cousin is the gentleman in the lower left.  To me, this looks like France or Germany but cannot tell.  I do not have the original photograph; this is a screen capture of a photo already online.  You can view the original by looking at the memorial for PFC Edward Thomas Quinn on FindAGrave.com.  I have attached my screen capture.

Thank you in advance, 

Bikerchick64

copyright image removed by moderator

[philipsearching]

As the image has been removed for copyright reasons, this is guesswork.

Is your relative in uniform?  If so, given that he died in October 1944 he would not have been in Germany (which I believe was not entered by US troops until March 1945).

If you know the regiment/unit in which your relative served it may be possible to find out where he was posted.  He might have been involved in the North Africa or Sicily/Italy campaign before France.

All the best
Philip

[ScouseBoy]

If he died in Normandy in 1944  then it is unlikely that he was in Germany,   because I  do not think Allied troops  had arrived in Germany at that date.

[JenB]

  You can view the original by looking at the memorial for PFC Edward Thomas Quinn on FindAGrave.com. 

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=56374981

Are you sure he died in Normandy? If I have the right person, Findagrave indicates that he is buried in Epinal Cemetery which is in the Vosges area of France, quite some distance from Normandy 


in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. It contains the graves of 5,255 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the campaigns across northeastern France to the Rhine River and beyond into Germany. The cemetery was established in October 1944 by the 46th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company of the U.S. Seventh Army as it drove northward from southern France through the Rhone Valley into Germany. The cemetery became the repository for the fatalities in the bitter fighting through the Saverne Gap, and in defense of Allied positions in the Vosges region, during the winter of 1944-1945.
https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/epinal-american-cemetery#.V-KPTPkrIdU

[Rudolf H B]

The photo might be taken in Paris - liberated 25. August 1944

regards
Rudolf

[ShaunJ]

Per the memorial he was serving in 143rd Infantry Regiment, in 36th Division.

That unit fought in Italy and then landed in the South of France in August 1944 and took part in the Vosges campaign. They were not in Normandy.

"In August, 1944, the Regiment was part of the 36th Division landing on Green Beach on the south coast of France. They marched 200 miles the first week, and soon - with the 141st - were part of the "Rhone River Bottleneck", virtually destroying the fleeing German 19th Army. Fighting northeastward the 36th served as the right flank division of the 7th Army.

 After the liberation of Lyon on 2 September, 1944, the regiment began the Vosges campaign near the German border. "
http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/36division/archives/143/143lin.htm

[ShaunJ]

 "It was still raining at dawn, 17 October, as General Dalquist urged his 143rd Regiment, to take Champ le Duc, defended by the Grenadier Regiment 736."


http://standwheretheyfought.jimdo.com/the-vosges-2009-battle-of-bruy%C3%A8res-and-the-relief-of-the-lost-battalion-by-the-442nd-rct-then-and-now/

[Bikerchick64]

Thank you!  To Phillip: Yes, he was in uniform (I guess you did not look at the photograph via FindAGrave) and I was told by a cousin that he died at Normandy.  To Scouseboy: I was unsure of the town.... To JenB: I probably should have looked up the site of  the cemetery; I was going by what my older and somewhat more knowledgeable  cousin said about his death... To Rudolf: thanks, I did not think of that city.  To ShaunJ:  Thank you for the link to the 143rd Regiment.  I'll check it out.  And thanks again to this forum for being here. 

[tonepad]

There appears to be a Palm Tree frond in the top left hand corner of the photo. This would indicate the town is in the south of France or Italy.