Following on a topic placed here regarding the adoption of war graves, I put a short report of my visit to the American Military Cemeteries of Henri-Chapelle and Neuville-en-Condroz here.
Henri-Chapelle was the first one I visited that day. The Cemetery actually is located in Hombourg. Back in 1945, when the Cemetery was established in the area, the officer in charge dropped by into the nearest village to get its name. He didn't know he was in the wrong village .... Henri-Chapelle.
The Mayor of Hombourg tried later to rename the Cemetery, but to no avail.
Henri-Chapelle Cemetery is located on a height overlooking a beautiful valley.
The entrance is kind of impressive. Massive columns topped by American eagles mark both entrances.
When you enter the Cemetery and walk past the "Wall of Missing" and the visitor's center, you get a view over the 7 000 + graves of GIs who died for the Liberation of Europe.
Homan K Jackson is the first grave I adopted.
He was in the 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion - 4th Armored Division as a Staff Sergeant.
When the 4th Armored launched an assault to widen the newly created Bastogne corridor (thus ending the German encirclement of Bastogne during the Battel of the Bulge) on December 30, 1944, Staff Sgt. Jackson was KIA when his unit encountered the battered remnants of the infamous 1st SS Panzer Divison "Leibstandarte AH" brought up from the northern shoulder of "The Bulge".
Leslie C Banaka was a 36-year-old Pfc in the 602nd Tank Destroyer Battalion when, on Febraury 21, 1945, his M-18 (a Tank Destroyer) hit a German Tellermine near Huldange in Luxembourg. The entire crew was killed by the explosion.
His brother Samuel already was KIA on July 12, 1944 probably near La-Haye-du-Puits in Normandy when his unit - the 313th Regiment of the 79th Infantry Division fought bitterly for Hill 84 against elements of yet another infamous SS unit; the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich".
Leslie's name appeared in a 1939-dated German pocket book carried by Robert Baldwin also of the 602nd Tank Destroyer Battalion. I found this booklet on eBay together with photos, a Tank Destroyer patch and ome additional documents of Robert Baldwin.
Big was my surprise when I even found a photo of Leslie Banaka AND of his brother Samuel on the Internet.
Leslie Banaka had three other brothers serving with the Armed Forces; Kenneth in the ETO, Harold in the Pacific and Walter in the United States Navy.
Leslie Banaka
His name plus those of his crew in Baldwin's notebook.
Samuel Banaka
Erwin