Technician 4th Grade (Tec4) Cyril Joseph Kennedy, United States Army. Service Number: 32833341

Early Life

Cyril Joseph Kennedy was born on 2 July 1909 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His father, Phillip Kennedy, born 31 March 1867 in Pennsylvania, died 17 January 1923 in Olyphant, Pennsylvania was a Carpenter. His mother, Mary Jane Gilhooly, was born on 10 February 1871 in Pennsylvania and died on 28 November 1928 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Cyril was the youngest of six children in the family. He had one older brother and four older sisters.

Military

Cyril Joseph Kennedy registered for the Draft on 16 Oct 1940 in Lackawanna, New York. At that time he worked for Bethlehem Steel Company. He enlisted in the Army on 13 Feb 1943 in Buffalo, New York. At that time he worked as a Locomotive Fireman. After basic training and follow-on training, he was assigned to Company C, 299th Engineer Combat Battalion. A brief history of the 299th follows:

The morning of 1 June 1944, the men moved out of D-6 to the embarkation areas at the Port of Weymouth. Here explosives were loaded aboard LCM's and the men in LCA's transported out into the harbor where they were loaded and embarked onto the HMS Princess Maud, a channel steamer, and LST's. The next few days were spent in receiving regulations aboard ship, briefing, practicing battle stations, preparing explosives, practice debarkation, and briefing on the latest intelligence reports, received 3 June 1944, concerning the, beaches.

On 4 June 1944 D Day was set and H Hour fixed at 0610 5 June 1944. Later the operation was postponed for 24 hours. Finally at 1930 5 June 1944 everyone was sent to bed and the following is an hourly account of D Day:

D-DAY 6 JUNE 1944

0030 - Everyone aboard ship was awakened.

0100 - Breakfast was served to all personnel.

0200 - Men and equipment made ready for the operation.

0230 - Debarkation from the Princess Maud into LCM's began.

0610 - Debarkation completed.

0633 - Eight assault teams of the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion landed on Omaha Beach (Easy Red, Fox Green, Fox Red) with the mission of clearing eight 50-yard gaps in the underwater obstacles. (The 299th Engineer Combat Battalion was the only Engineer unit to land on both beaches D-Day. Companies A and C and Headquarters and Service Company on Omaha and Company B on Utah Beach. Some of our men actually landed before any other American troops had set foot on the beach.)

0715 - Support boats landed. However, the Infantry was pinned down and unable to pass the dune line. By this time, the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion had blown five of the eight gaps. The beach was under heavy, deadly mortar and artillery fire.

0900 - Two missing assault teams of the organization were located.

1000 - The Infantry eliminated the beach defenses and cleared the beach.

1030 - Battalion Command Post moved to a hillside overlooking Omaha Beach in the vicinity of Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

1200 - The Beach was still under heavy artillery and mortar fire.

1430 - Battalion teams working to clear the beach of obstacles.

2300 - Attacked by enemy aircraft and the bivouac area strafed.

The next day, 7 June 1944, the beach was still under heavy artillery and mortar fire. All the assault and support teams were located and it was found that our casualties were high. Approximately one-third of the total battalion was either killed, missing, or wounded. Meanwhile, work continued in cleaning up the beaches.

Death

Cyril Joseph Kennedy was Killed in Action on 6 June 1944 on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France during the D-Day invasion. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal and was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France, Plot: J, Row: 18, Grave: I6.

Sources

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56646326/cyril-j-kennedy

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=340429

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72982462/the-tribune/

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=6575585&tid=&pid=&queryId=a6bcf0178494c9439bfdb66555b48474&usePUB=true&_phsrc=5ru1173177&_phstart=successSource

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2238&h=302634109&tid=&pid=&queryId=a6bcf0178494c9439bfdb66555b48474&usePUB=true&_phsrc=5ru1486991&_phstart=successSource

http://www.299thcombatengineers.com/History01Thayer.htm

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