John Arnold was born August 5, 1925, in Mizpah, Koochiching County, Minnesota. His parents were Frank and Alma Fraley Arnold, and he had at least one sister, Blanche, who was two years older than him. He spent some time of his youth in Columbia County Oregon, but had moved back to Minnesota by 1935 and were still living there in 1940. John’s Father worked for the WPA.

When John registered for the draft on August 5, 1943, he was living in Malin, Oregon and working for JR and RW Steele in Merrill, Oregon. His parents were living in Klamath Falls at the time. He weighed 168 lbs. and was 5’11” tall. John was light complected with blue eyes and brown hair.

John enlisted in the military as a private on November 10, 1943. At this point he had three years of high school education. He was a semiskilled laborer being able to drive different types of equipment.

John was assigned to the 324th Infantry Regiment of the 44th Infantry Division. The 44th Infantry Division was a division of the U.S. Army National Guard. After training in various places in the U.S., they arrived in France on September 15, 1944, where they trained for another month. On October 18th, they took the place of the 79th Division in the area of Foret de Parroy, helping to secure the Vosges Mountains from the Germans. In December they took part in assaulting the Maginot line fortifications.

On a dark night, January 11, 1945, a small patrol, went forth to seize an enemy minefield near Bliesbrucken. A member of the patrol, whom I assume to be SSGT John Arnold, stepped on a land mine and sustained a severe injury. Pvt William E. Slattery, an accompanying medic, ran into the mine field to aid him and stepped on a mine as well and was seriously injured.

SSGT John Arnold was killed in action January 11, 1945, at age 19. He is interred in the Mizpah cemetery in Mizpah, Koochiching County, Minnesota.

SSGT John Arnold, we thank you for your service and sacrifice. May you always be remembered!

References

Ancestry.com World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

Ancestry.com 1930 and 1940 United States Federal Census

Ancestry.com World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

En.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/44th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)

Archive.org/details/CombatHistory324thlnfReg/page/n1/mode/2up

Findagrave.com/memorial/135373120/john-arnold

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SSGT John Arnold

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