Uniform and photo group of S/SGT Jack Linaburg, B Co., 347th IR, 87th ID

April 20, 2022

Happy to share a really nice group I got recently to a fairly difficult division. This set belonged to Staff Sergeant Jack Linaburg of Cumberland, Maryland. He was drafted shortly after his 18th birthday out of his job as a movie projectionist in his local theater, joining the army in the spring of 1944. He was attached and sent overseas as his platoon’s recon man in B Company, 347th Infantry Regiment, 87th ID. He saw the divisions first few weeks of combat in November of 1944 and fought the first days of the Bulge as the Germans opened up their massive counteroffensive. Two days into the battle, however, Jack was on the outskirts of Welsheim climbing over a stone wall in performance of his recon duties when a German 88mm gun saw him and opened fire, striking the base of the wall but peppering his arm and leg with shrapnel. He was evacuated and sent to England where he spent the next two months recovering, and upon discharge, was reassigned to be a motion picture projectionist once again with the special services of the 9th AF in France for the rest of the war. He later went on to serve some time in the 115th of the 29th ID, his national guard unit, in 1947, where this uniform was last updated.

I know this isn’t the length of write up most people see from me, but that’s because from here on out I plan to upload my full write ups on each veteran on my website and leave these social media posts to display the groups and encourage further reading on the site. Linaburg’s is a particularly interesting sample, however, as he wrote an entire self-history which was inside of his photo album, so in this instance I mostly let him tell the story.

https://www.36thdivisionarchive.com/pa-eto-linaburg

The group includes Linaburg’ ike jacket and cap with some very nice regimental DUI, discharge records, capture papers for several pistols, souvenir currency, misc documents, and a fantastic photo album. The album especially depicts some great material from his service including grounded planes, various field photos, POWs, and a knocked out German Panther, Jagdpanzer IV, and Flak halftrack.

In all, a very great set I’m excited to add to represent the Golden Acorns!