**Thornton Loquette Mullins **was born 21 October 1912 in Richmond, Henrico, Virginia to James William and Maggie Angle (Ford) Mullins; he had two brothers and one step-sister as his father had died in 1922 when he was about 10 years old. He married Edna A. Burkert on 25 February 1936. He was a civil engineer according to the 1940 census.

Thornton was a Lt. Colonel attached to the 29th Infantry Division, 111 Field Artillery Battalion when it landed on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. The amphibious truck which was to carry him and his unit to the beach had to carry 14 men, a howitzer, ammunition, sandbags and other equipment to the beach. Lt. Col. Mullins was very concerned that the DUKW would not be able to bear the heavy load in the rough seas. However, he and his unit landed with the initial assault wave under intense enemy small arms, machine gun, mortar and 88-mm. fire. The infantry was pinned to the beach and was apparently unable to move forward. Advancing to the end of the beach, Lt. Col. Mullins turned and, exposed to enemy fire, walked back to the water line, urging troops to move forward and off the beach informing his troops “To hell with our artillery mission, we’re infantrymen now”. He was wounded but continued in his efforts until finally the assault wave of the infantry moved forward. He then took command of two tanks and directed their fire on enemy strong points overlooking the beach. Observing that the tanks were unable to neutralize all the strong points, he organized a party of infantrymen and led them in intense enemy fire up a hill to assault the strong points. Though again wounded and forced to withdraw, he refused to be deterred. Undaunted, he organized another party and while headed toward another tank across an open stretch, was killed by a sniper.

Lt. Col. Mullins is buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery and Mausoleum in Richmond, Virginia. He earned his Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman, Marksmanship badges, WW II Victory, American Campaign and Good Conduct medals, Army Presidential Unit Citation and European-African-Middle Eastern campaign ribbons. His initiative and bravery, giving his all, should always be remembered.

*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. If you notice anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by”.

SOURCES:

Find-a-Grave:

HonorStates.org

American D-Day.org

Ancestry

Thornton L Mullins