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WATT, Jack B.

1921

1944

Cpl 9th Armored Eng WWII; Repatriated May 1949

SCWB

My Uncle jack died in the early days of the Battle of the Bulge. Dec 18 or 19th, 1944 I have heard his unit only lost 10 guys. Jack was the swim instructor for the Battalion back in LA before the shipped over on the Queen Mary(?)

Jack was very muscular , a football player, tall over 6'4" and a man of great compassion and character.

He and my dad were orphaned in 1939 when he was 16 yrs old and survived alone in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania until they were "taken in" by a local pastor.

His widow, though she remarried, kept his medals and a scarf he bought for her in Paris; giving them to our family when she passed away. Her son not related to Jack said he felt like Jack was his own father - She loved him that much.

I have asked for his war record to get any more details of his last days.Unfortunately the records may have been in the fire that destroyed the records of so many.

My hope is to visit the site where he could have been KIA. I would very much like to place something of remembrance for my Uncle Jack.

I plan to travel to Bastogne on Friday September 4th 2015 and would like to get as much info about the 9th Armored Engineers between Dec 16 - 20th,1944.