Private Sherril Beck, United States Army, Service Number: 39908109

Private Sherril Beck was born on 20 June 1924 in Ovid, Bear Lake County, Idaho. He was the son of Leon Anders Beck, born in Idaho, (1895-1975) and Jennie Louise Porter, born in Wyoming, (1898-1937). He had six siblings; two older brothers and one old sister and one younger brother and two younger sisters. From 1930-1940, Leon Beck owned a farm in Ovid, Bear Lake County, Idaho.

Military

After graduating from high school in 1942, Private Beck entered the Army on 21 January 1943 in Pocatello, Idaho. He was assigned as a Private in the Engineer Corps on February 23, 1943 and was subsequently assigned to Company B, 146th Engineer Combat Battalion.

The 146th played a significant role in the D-Day invasion by clearing obstacles for the follow on troops that came ashore on Omaha Beach. One such account of their efforts follows:

“During the assault phase on OMAHA Beach, special engineer assault gapping teams came ashore with the infantry and opened gaps 50 yards wide in the barbed wire and obstacles lined the shore. Support teams followed to widen the gaps. Slowly, against stiff German opposition, the engineers on OMAHA Beach began opening the exits. At Exit E-l, mines, barbed wire, obstacles, antitank ditches, and impassable gravel and sand, barred the tanks from moving”

Death

Private Sherril Beck died on D-Day, 6 June 1944, in the water before he even reached the shores of Normandy. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He is buried at Lanark Cemetery in Lanark, Bear Lake County, Idaho.

His newspaper obituary follows:

“KILLED IN ACTION ON D-DAY IN FRANCE - Second Ovid Man loses Life In Invasion - Private Sherril Beck, 20, son of Leon A. Beck of Ovid, was killed in action on D-Day in France, according to information received Monday by his father from the War Department. Private Beck of the engineer corps entered the service on February 23, 1943, and before arriving in England in October of 1943, had trained at Camp Swift, Texas. He was born June 20, 1924 and was a member of the 1942 graduating class of Fielding High School. In addition to his father, he is survived by two sisters, Noreen and Maxine Beck of Ovid; three brothers, M/Sgt. Veriel C. Beck, stationed in England; Junior and Dale Beck, both of Ovid; and his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Emma Porter of Ovid.”

A monument erected on Omaha Beach in Normandy to honor the men of the 146th Engineer Combat Battalion reads as follows:

“At H+03 minutes on 6 June 1944 our demolition engineers, plus attached soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division and navy men from 13 Naval Combat Demolition Units, carried explosives ashore from 15 LCM landing craft to destroy the anti-boat obstacles on Omaha Beach. The main elements of the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions then landed and overran the German defenders. For their valiant efforts, the 146th Combat Engineers and Naval Combat Demolition Units were awarded Presidential Unit Citations.”

Sources:

https://www.fold3.com/page/91292724/sherril-beck

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/70066646/person/340008940170/facts

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4584321_01045?pId=10390299

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-00738-00200?pId=100108980

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74305006/sherril-beck

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2375/images/40050_644066_0361-00781?pId=242307

https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=993&MemID=1325

https://foundation.sdsmt.edu/file/foundation---documents/Engineers-in-WWII-1944.pdf

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Private Sherril Beck, U.S. Army