A tombstone can hardly tell the story of one person's life. If it could, what would it say for just one day of Mager Bradley's life, the day he was murdered by the Nazi SS at the outset of the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium? Bradley was a corporal with the all-black 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, which was stationed and trained at nearby Camp Gruber before heading to Europe in 1944. At 27 years old, he and 10 other black soldiers with the battalion were captured by Germans with the 1st SS Panzer Division at Wereth, a small farming village in southeastern Belgium.
"Seven of the dead are buried at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, Liege, Belguim. The others were returned to the United States for burial. Curiously, Bradley was not buried at Fort Gibson until Dec. 15, 1947 — three years after he was killed, according to cemetery records."
Dr. Norman Lichtenfeld of Mobile, Ala., has done extensive research into the massacre and noted that the 11 were buried in temporary graves in Europe until 1947, when their families were contacted about permanent burial options. Not much is known about Bradley since none of his next of kin could be found in Mississippi or Oklahoma.
What is known is that he was a native of Bolivar County, Miss., and enlisted there in the Army in April 1941. Muskogee County records show he was married in Muskogee on Dec. 2, 1943, to Eva Mae James, 20, of Okmulgee, while he was in training at Camp Gruber. Lichtenfeld said it was Bradley's widow who opted for his burial in Oklahoma.
Tulsa World
Also commemorated here Wereth 11 Memorial Site
"Seven of the dead are buried at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, Liege, Belguim. The others were returned to the United States for burial. Curiously, Bradley was not buried at Fort Gibson until Dec. 15, 1947 — three years after he was killed, according to cemetery records."
Dr. Norman Lichtenfeld of Mobile, Ala., has done extensive research into the massacre and noted that the 11 were buried in temporary graves in Europe until 1947, when their families were contacted about permanent burial options. Not much is known about Bradley since none of his next of kin could be found in Mississippi or Oklahoma.
What is known is that he was a native of Bolivar County, Miss., and enlisted there in the Army in April 1941. Muskogee County records show he was married in Muskogee on Dec. 2, 1943, to Eva Mae James, 20, of Okmulgee, while he was in training at Camp Gruber. Lichtenfeld said it was Bradley's widow who opted for his burial in Oklahoma.
Tulsa World
Also commemorated here Wereth 11 Memorial Site
A tombstone can hardly tell the story of one person's life. If it could, what would it say for just one day of Mager Bradley's life, the day he was murdered by the Nazi SS at the outset of the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium? Bradley was a corporal with the all-black 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, which was stationed and trained at nearby Camp Gruber before heading to Europe in 1944. At 27 years old, he and 10 other black soldiers with the battalion were captured by Germans with the 1st SS Panzer Division at Wereth, a small farming village in southeastern Belgium.
"Seven of the dead are buried at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, Liege, Belguim. The others were returned to the United States for burial. Curiously, Bradley was not buried at Fort Gibson until Dec. 15, 1947 — three years after he was killed, according to cemetery records."
Dr. Norman Lichtenfeld of Mobile, Ala., has done extensive research into the massacre and noted that the 11 were buried in temporary graves in Europe until 1947, when their families were contacted about permanent burial options. Not much is known about Bradley since none of his next of kin could be found in Mississippi or Oklahoma.
What is known is that he was a native of Bolivar County, Miss., and enlisted there in the Army in April 1941. Muskogee County records show he was married in Muskogee on Dec. 2, 1943, to Eva Mae James, 20, of Okmulgee, while he was in training at Camp Gruber. Lichtenfeld said it was Bradley's widow who opted for his burial in Oklahoma.
Tulsa World
Also commemorated here Wereth 11 Memorial Site
"Seven of the dead are buried at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, Liege, Belguim. The others were returned to the United States for burial. Curiously, Bradley was not buried at Fort Gibson until Dec. 15, 1947 — three years after he was killed, according to cemetery records."
Dr. Norman Lichtenfeld of Mobile, Ala., has done extensive research into the massacre and noted that the 11 were buried in temporary graves in Europe until 1947, when their families were contacted about permanent burial options. Not much is known about Bradley since none of his next of kin could be found in Mississippi or Oklahoma.
What is known is that he was a native of Bolivar County, Miss., and enlisted there in the Army in April 1941. Muskogee County records show he was married in Muskogee on Dec. 2, 1943, to Eva Mae James, 20, of Okmulgee, while he was in training at Camp Gruber. Lichtenfeld said it was Bradley's widow who opted for his burial in Oklahoma.
Tulsa World
Also commemorated here Wereth 11 Memorial Site
Inscription
CPL, 285 FLD ARTY OBSN BN WORLD WAR II
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
