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Killed in Action, First Wave, Omaha Beach, D-Day, June 6th 1944


kanemono
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Bernard E. Kirkendall was born in Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania, on September 15, 1919. He was employed as a barber at Danville State Mental Hospital in Danville. Kirkendall enlisted in the Army on February 21, 1942, at New Cumberland Pennsylvania. He received basic training at Fort Meade, Maryland, and advanced training at Camp Blanding, Florida. Kirkendall was stationed in North Carolina before being sent to England in September of 1942. He was promoted to staff sergeant and served as chief radio operator with the Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division. Staff Sergeant Kirkendall was killed in action on June 6, 1944, while landing at Omaha Beach on the early morning of D-Day. The Headquarters Company came in on three boats at H plus 40, received one burst of shell-fire on one boat (killing one man) during the approach, but otherwise met nothing but sporadic automatic weapons fire. The Germans held their fire until the men were ready to jump from the boat. When the ramp went down the men dropped down into water averaging 4 1/2 to 5 feet deep. Kirkendall was immediately killed with most of the headquarters officers and non-commissioned officers by German machine gun fire. Bernard E. Kirkendall is buried in Danville, Pennsylvania.

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Old Crow 1986

What a wonderful remembrance.  Thank you for being Sergeant Kirkendall's caretaker and keeping his memory alive. 

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Kurt Barickman

Yes what a fantastic D-Day 29th Division group, the 116th suffered such high casualties on Omaha, thanks for sharing this great grouping Dick.

 

 

Kurt

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BILL THE PATCH

Cannot fathom what his father went through, so sad.. RIP

Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk

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everforward

Thank you for this thread, and posting pictures of this grouping....obviously near and dear to my own interests. Spectacular grouping.

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Wonderful set, used to have the uniform of a 1st Battalion HQ guy who survived the landing, they really had a rough time at it being far from the main landing zone and pretty much all on their own with almost all officers killed immediately. Very historic, well done.

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