Private, U.S. Army
Service # 35723700
605th Field Artillery Battalion, 10th Mountain Division
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
The unit was laying communication wire as the 10th Mountain Division pursued German forces into northern Italy’s rugged alpine region, home to the 50-mile-long Lake Garda. When the enemy blew up tunnels through the mountains ringing the lake’s northern end, the division’s commanders sent soldiers across the lake in amphibious six-wheeled trucks, known by their military designation DUKW and known to GIs as ducks.
On the night of 30 April 1945, three DUKWs left the lake’s east side carrying members of the division’s 605th Field Artillery. One of the vehicles, jammed with 25 soldiers and a 75 mm cannon, stalled during the journey and soon began taking on water. According to Cpl. Thomas Hough, the lone survivor, the soldiers desperately tossed their equipment and ammunition overboard in an attempt to keep the vessel from sinking. But the DUKW went down anyway, plunging the men into the frigid waters of the glacier-fed lake. 24 soldiers drowned and their bodies were not recovered. Hough, a former lifeguard from Dayton, Ohio, was rescued by two 10th Mountain soldiers on shore who heard the cries for help, and died in 2005.
Service # 35723700
605th Field Artillery Battalion, 10th Mountain Division
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
The unit was laying communication wire as the 10th Mountain Division pursued German forces into northern Italy’s rugged alpine region, home to the 50-mile-long Lake Garda. When the enemy blew up tunnels through the mountains ringing the lake’s northern end, the division’s commanders sent soldiers across the lake in amphibious six-wheeled trucks, known by their military designation DUKW and known to GIs as ducks.
On the night of 30 April 1945, three DUKWs left the lake’s east side carrying members of the division’s 605th Field Artillery. One of the vehicles, jammed with 25 soldiers and a 75 mm cannon, stalled during the journey and soon began taking on water. According to Cpl. Thomas Hough, the lone survivor, the soldiers desperately tossed their equipment and ammunition overboard in an attempt to keep the vessel from sinking. But the DUKW went down anyway, plunging the men into the frigid waters of the glacier-fed lake. 24 soldiers drowned and their bodies were not recovered. Hough, a former lifeguard from Dayton, Ohio, was rescued by two 10th Mountain soldiers on shore who heard the cries for help, and died in 2005.
Private, U.S. Army
Service # 35723700
605th Field Artillery Battalion, 10th Mountain Division
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
The unit was laying communication wire as the 10th Mountain Division pursued German forces into northern Italy’s rugged alpine region, home to the 50-mile-long Lake Garda. When the enemy blew up tunnels through the mountains ringing the lake’s northern end, the division’s commanders sent soldiers across the lake in amphibious six-wheeled trucks, known by their military designation DUKW and known to GIs as ducks.
On the night of 30 April 1945, three DUKWs left the lake’s east side carrying members of the division’s 605th Field Artillery. One of the vehicles, jammed with 25 soldiers and a 75 mm cannon, stalled during the journey and soon began taking on water. According to Cpl. Thomas Hough, the lone survivor, the soldiers desperately tossed their equipment and ammunition overboard in an attempt to keep the vessel from sinking. But the DUKW went down anyway, plunging the men into the frigid waters of the glacier-fed lake. 24 soldiers drowned and their bodies were not recovered. Hough, a former lifeguard from Dayton, Ohio, was rescued by two 10th Mountain soldiers on shore who heard the cries for help, and died in 2005.
Service # 35723700
605th Field Artillery Battalion, 10th Mountain Division
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
The unit was laying communication wire as the 10th Mountain Division pursued German forces into northern Italy’s rugged alpine region, home to the 50-mile-long Lake Garda. When the enemy blew up tunnels through the mountains ringing the lake’s northern end, the division’s commanders sent soldiers across the lake in amphibious six-wheeled trucks, known by their military designation DUKW and known to GIs as ducks.
On the night of 30 April 1945, three DUKWs left the lake’s east side carrying members of the division’s 605th Field Artillery. One of the vehicles, jammed with 25 soldiers and a 75 mm cannon, stalled during the journey and soon began taking on water. According to Cpl. Thomas Hough, the lone survivor, the soldiers desperately tossed their equipment and ammunition overboard in an attempt to keep the vessel from sinking. But the DUKW went down anyway, plunging the men into the frigid waters of the glacier-fed lake. 24 soldiers drowned and their bodies were not recovered. Hough, a former lifeguard from Dayton, Ohio, was rescued by two 10th Mountain soldiers on shore who heard the cries for help, and died in 2005.
Inscription
PVT 605 FA BN 10 MT DIV INDIANA
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Indiana.
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