Howard F. Sheffer

U.S. Army

U.S. Army

Service # 33902861

Howard Franklin Sheffer, born May 29, 1923, grew up in Baltimore, the oldest child of George and Margaret Sheffer. Before he enlisted in the army on January 4, 1944, he had dropped out of high school after two years and likely found work as a car or truck mechanic.

The army assigned Howard to the 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. The entire division landed on Omaha Beach about 6 weeks after the invasion of Normandy, paraded through Paris a month later, then after some minor skirmishes, prepared for a full-throated attack along the German Belgian border. The 28th Division was ordered to have its 3 regiments (112th, 110th and 109th) traverse the densely treed Huertgen Forest and capture the nearby towns and villages. It was an ill-conceived plan from the start, especially since the attack was to be the only one along the 150-mile-long frontline and the 3 regiments would not be in close proximity so that they might be able to back each other up. On November 2nd, all three regiments attacked the German lines. The 110th was assigned the capture of Simonskall and Steckenborn. Almost immediately the heavy German resistance, mud, mines, pill boxes, and dense forest stalled them in their tracks. The infantrymen repeatedly tried to advance over the next 10 days with little or no success and sometimes even losing ground. (The 109th and 112th were in similar straits.) The 110th Regiment suffered heavy losses. When relieved on November 13, all of the officers commanding the rifle battalions of the 110th were dead or wounded, and one battalion had lost 2/3 of its men, down to 57 from 160 at the start of the attack. Overall in the 110th Infantry Regiment, which started on November 2nd with 3,202 men, by November 12th had had 65 men killed in action, 1624 wounded in action, 253 taken as prisoners of war, 288 missing in action, and 86 non-battle related casualties. Among the soldiers missing in action was Pvt. Howard Sheffer.

Although Private Sheffer died November 11, 1944, because he was missing in action the Army did not declare him dead until November 12, 1945, a year and a day later, as was customary. His name was duly inscribed on on the tablets of the missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, Netherlands. But that is not the end of his story.

About 20 years later a German civilian discovered the remains of Private Sheffer in Huertgen Forest. His dogtags were still intact and dental records further confirmed the identification of the body. In August 1965 Private Howard F. Sheffer was brought home and buried with honors in Arlington National Cemetery, section 18, lot 16022.

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 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at ceheditor@aol.com or email feedback@storiesbehindthestars.org

Sources

https://findagrave.com/memorial/81974019/howard-f-sheffer

Ancestry.com

U.S. Federal Census 1930

U.S. Federal Census 1940

U.S., World war II Army Enlistment Records 1938-1946

Clipping, unidentified newspaper ca. 1965 at Howard Franklin Sheffer, 1923-1945/ Pictures/Public Member Photos and Documents

Fold3

U. S. WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1952: August 1944, November 1944

American Battle Monuments Commission

WWII Army Enlistment Records

SBTS Project/ Maryland/Baltimore

Howard F Sheffer