Pvt. Philip Germer (Service # 17091587) was born on October 29th, 1923 in Trinidad, Colorado to parents Melvin Germer and Dora Lucero. Philip’s paternal grandparents, Philip and Minnie Germer were immigrants from--of all countries--Germany. They immigrated to the USA in 1880 and settled in Trinidad, Colorado. Their son, Melvin, grew up in Colorado and eventually worked as railroad signalman and freight handler. He soon met Dora Lucero whom he married and had seven children with. There were three boys and four girls, one of which was named after his grandfather, Philip. Philip was the 4th child and 2nd son in the family, born in 1923.

Philip attended Trinidad Highschool in Colorado where he was a member of the school’s golf team. He met his future fiancé, Esther Diapaolo, while in school, and graduated in 1941, just months before the United States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor and forced to enter World War II.

Following his graduation, Philip sought to explore westward, and moved to California where he had an older sister, Virginia, that helped him settle in Santa Monica. Philip worked serving sodas and shakes in Santa Monica that year. It’s known that Philip had a wonderful sense of humor and sharp smile. He was smooth with his words and full of charisma. While living in California, Philip became known for his dancing skills, particularly the jitterbug. A fan of the big band swing tunes of his time, Philip often was the center of attention on the dance floor according to his unit buddies in the 3rd Bn, 506th.

He soon decided it was time to do his part in the new overseas conflict, and traveled back to Colorado in the Summer of 1942, where he enlisted in the Army on September 10th, 1942 in Pueblo, Colorado, volunteering for the Paratroopers.

Pvt. Germer immediately shipped out to Georgia where he found himself entering training at the famed Camp Toccoa, living and training next to Currahee Mountain. He was assigned to the machine gun platoon of HQ Company, 3rd Battalion of the 506th PIR, 101st Div (Note: the 506th PIR was not yet attached to the 101st Division in 1942. The 506th PIR was officially attached to the 101st Div. in June 1943)

He got his first parachute jumps under his belt at Fort Benning, GA, and further jump training at Camp Mackall, NC. Philip was good buddies with two men in particular - Fayez Handy and George “Doc” Dwyer (source: ++Project Vigil - Philip Germer++) - who spoke after the war of Germer’s massive sense of humor, love for jokes, and consistent place at the head of the line for fresh milk in the Mess Hall at Camp Mackall (a valued commodity for the men in training).

Pvt. Germer and his unit arrived in Europe exactly 370 days after he first enlisted and volunteered, landing in Liverpool aboard the S.S. Samaria. 3rd Battalion of the 506th was eventually stationed in Ramsbury leading up to the invasion, with their marshalling area at Exeter Airfield.

Pvt. Germer’s platoon actually was one to meet General Eisenhower before departure on D-Day. Pvt. Germer was in Chalk 5 in their serial, along with with buddies Fayez Handy and Doc Dwyer as well as with platoon commander 1st Lt. Bill Wedeking. Philip was number two in his stick of approx 16 men, meaning he was 2nd out of the plane once over the drop zone (source: ++Project Vigil - Philip Germer++).

In the initial hours of June 6th, 1944, Pvt. Philip Germer found himself looking out the door of his C-47 transport, tracers and anti-aircraft fire coming at his craft all around him. At 20 years old, he jumped into occupied France, to begin the Allied invasion. Several days after D-Day, Pvt. Germer was found in a field outside Saint-Côme-du-Mont, still in his parachute harness. Like many other paratroopers that night, he was most probably hit by small arms or machine gun fire on his descent.

He was originally buried at a temporary cemetery in Hiesville on June 10th, and then moved to Blosville Cemetery on July 4th, 1944. In 1947, the US Government began moving soldiers to the newly established Colleville-sur-Mer cemetery, where Pvt. Germer rests today. His headstone can be found at Plot C, Row 28, Grave 30.

We Will Remember Him.

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.

Huge thank you to Project Vigil (link below) for this detailed story on Pvt. Germer.

References:

http://www.projectvigil.com/philip-germer

https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/germer%3Dphilip

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=21662

https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44001_05_00011-01740?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Qhm71&_phstart=successSource&pId=5132607

https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=5315919&tid=&pid=&queryId=7b082231dd2872a3767a81d84d55370f&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Qhm71&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2125/images/31682_B010172-01417?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=7b082231dd2872a3767a81d84d55370f&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Qhm71&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=42798

Pvt. Philip Germer at Camp Toccoa

Pvt. Phil Germer