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Post by A Newell on May 12, 2011 2:46:59 GMT 8
Hello! I was wondering if anyone has any information on my great uncle. He was with the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and was killed on Las Negros Island in the Philippines by a sniper while attempting to rescue other troops.His name was Lt. Reginald Newell. If anyone has info, please contact me at andi_newell@bellsouth.net. Thank you so much!!!
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Post by JohnEakin on May 12, 2011 8:41:33 GMT 8
According to the ABMC database, he is buried in the Manila American Cemetery in grave A-12-186. His awards include the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. www.abmc.govI don't know if his records survived the St Louis records center fire, but there will be a deceased personnel file which family members can obtain by contacted the Army Casualty Office. www.hrc.army.mil/site/Active/tagd/CMAOC/cmaoc.htm
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Post by A Newell on May 12, 2011 9:17:58 GMT 8
Thanks! I was able to find that much. Was hoping that maybe someone had some pictures. I know he was killed by a sniper while helping rescue others. Maybe there is a relative out there that knows something...? Keeping my fingers crossed..... Andrea
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Post by EXO on May 12, 2011 10:09:14 GMT 8
Do you have any photos of him that we can post, details etc?
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2011 6:37:55 GMT 8
I do not have any pictures. I wish I did. All I know is that he was a 2LT and was killed by a sniper as he was rescuing others on Los Negros. The official recorded date of death was 5/11/1945 but I found somewhere a passage that there were no deaths that day but there were on 5/10. Thank you! Andrea
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Post by EXO on May 17, 2011 13:18:10 GMT 8
Andrea, Los Negros and Negros are two different places. The former is the third largest of the Admiralty Islands, and was assaulted 29 February 1944. Negros is the fourth largest island in the Philippines, located in an area called generally the Visayas. Do not feel too concerned that Bless 'em All might not list him specifically on his date of death. It is predominantly about the second battalion. Each battalion had quite separate things going on during that period. What is also common is that men not even a hundred yards from each other can have vastly different experiences, so different in fact and truth that they might seem to have been fighting different wars. John Lindgren explains this at corregidor.org/503_fox/fox_background_01.htmlFor those who don't follow links, this is what John writes: A long time ago I was on a troopship, the USS Eltinge bound for Bremerhaven: anticipating a dull trip I had a copy of Tolstoy's War and Peace which in most ways is a very dull book. What wasn't dull was his theory of the battle where he describes the action at Borodino not as some great strategic clash that will decide the fate of Europe but thousands of small struggles among confused and bewildered soldiers who only know what is happening to them and a few of their comrades that are nearby. They are so confused that they never know whether they were brave or cowardly soldiers or whether they have properly done their duty because no one tells them except in a general way perhaps. Not only are they uncertain about the battle and even themselves, there is really no one to talk to about it unless they had experienced the same thing.
This leads me to another theory which has to do with why there are so many veteran's organisations and why when the old soldiers get together the pervasive "hospitality room" flourishes.
A one-day difference between date of action and the date that the death is recorded is not abnormal.
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Post by EXO on May 19, 2011 6:12:01 GMT 8
Andi, There's a few myths that need to be busted about the fighting (and dying) in the Pacific in WWII. Firstly, not everyone was killed on Iwo Jima. Secondly, not everyone was killed by a Japanese sniper. I didn't tell you this in case it didn't happen, but I have now tracked down some information about the circumstances of your great uncle's death. I had a long call with Jim Mullaney, who is my ultimate authority on most things in the 3d Bn. The death of Lt. Newell is something in respect of which Jim has personal knowledge. He was there. The 503d were moving forward in small groups towards the central mountains of Negros when a patrol was hit by a Japanese machine-gun. It was difficult work, skirting the jungle trails and avoiding the ambushes which the Japanese had spent days preparing for along those trails. The area was heavily wooded, with large old trees, including the large fig trees that put out roots a few feet from the ground. Lt. Brock, leading the patrol, was hit when a Japanese MG opened an ambush, and he fell to a position where he could not be seen, so it wasn't immediately known how badly he'd been hit. Was he wounded or dead, no-one knew. The patrol had been ambushed only a short way from the then CP, not much more than a quarter of a mile, so the sound of the action had been heard at the CP, but of course, nothing could really be seen. A CP could be wherever there was a shady tree, a field phone, a bench and a table. The trooper sitting is Lt. Smith.
What was clear was that Brock's patrol was in some sort of trouble. Capt. Mullaney, at the CP, was being visited by what he described as a "motley crew" - Col. Jones, accompanied by the regiment's dental surgeon, Capt. Eppleman, and others. Mullaney was putting together another patrol to go and render assistance, rescue Brock, and deal with the circumstance as best they might. Lt. Newell was in the CP, and being a keen and enthusiastic young second lieutenant, he asked Mullaney if he could accompany the patrol, which was approximately ten or so men. Mullaney agreed. Jones and Eppleman also tagged along. As the patrol cautiously approached the area, it too came under fire from automatic weapons, and Mullaney sought cover behind a large tree-root. Shortly after he hit the ground, there was another burst of MG fire, and Mullaney felt someone fall upon him. He looked around and saw Newell, who had been hit in the throat by the MG, bleeding profusely. Newell died within a few seconds. Brock's body was not recovered that day, and it was Newell whose body was carried back in a poncho draped between two tree saplings. Mullaney and Eppleman carried the body back. Back at the CP, Jones asked Mullaney if he thought that Brock and Newell deserved an award, and Mullaney said that they both did. When Mullaney ultimately recovered Brock's body it was obvious to him that Brock had not been wounded, but had died instantly, or almost instantly, in the first ambush. Mullaney never heard further concerning his recommendation for a medal for Brock or Newell. That was until only a few years ago, when another of our website group, Dan MacRaild, was able to inform him that Brock had been awarded the Silver Star. We do not have details concerning whether or not your grand uncle received an award, though. ExO Once again, my thanks go to Jim Mullaney for this info.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2011 3:26:57 GMT 8
Thank you SO SO much for finding the info!! Words can't tell you how much it means to finally know the truth and not just the tidbits my grandmother remembers. All of his siblings have passed and my grandmother is the only one still left that knows anything first hand of what they were told. I do know that his brother accepted the awards for him - a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Again...Thank you so much!!! Andi
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2017 11:55:38 GMT 8
Hello again! I received some photos of my great uncle from mightythor101@aol.com. I haven't heard exactly who this is yet. Thank you mightythor101 and everyone else for the information! You all are really my only link to the information now. My father passed away a couple of years ago and my grandmother is in a nursing home and suffers from significant memory loss. So, again...thank you!! If I could figure out how to add the photos, I would...
Andrea
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