EARLY LIFE

John Trent Kincer was born on January 19, 1921 in Wythe, Virginia. He was one of four children born to Elbert Edgar Kincer and Elizabeth Beatrice Andrews Kincer. John went to all four years of high school and at the time of his enlistment he was a farm laborer. His religion was Protestant.

MILITARY

Kincer Enlisted in the Army on February 3, 1941 in Wytheville, Virginia. He was a private and advanced to the office of a corporal at the end of his tour of duty. Kincer’s number was 20366063. He was a W-30 Tech 5th Class. He was in the 29th infantry, Division 116th, Infantry Regiment Company B.

DEATH

Kincer died in the invasion of Normandy, France on D-Day, June 6, 1944 at Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. His time in the service of our country was over three years. Here is an account of that day for the 116th Division as described by “D-Day Overlord”:

“The 116th Infantry Regiment belonging to the 29th Division is chosen to form the first assault wave. This unit is made up mainly of soldiers of National Guard, an army corps rarely used during a first frontal assault. But the 116th Infantry will be supported by “classical” units (the 16th Infantry Regiment and elements of the 2nd Rangers Battalion).

The landing beach is named Omaha Beach (Vierville-sur-Mer) and the 29th Infantry Division is responsible for attacking to the west of the beach. She is accompanied on her right flank by the 1st Infantry Division. The assault is expected on June 6, 1944 at dawn, after a violent bombing of the German positions of the Atlantic Wall. At 6:30 on D-Day, the first elements of the 116th Infantry landed on Omaha: they were greeted by an extremely deadly fire and very quickly, the situation escaped the American soldiers.

Throughout the morning hundreds of soldiers were killed and it was only in the early afternoon that the Germans, tried and missing ammunition, gradually abandoned their fortifications and let the disembarked troops regain the advantage. US troops lose more than 3,000 men on Omaha Beach, killed, wounded, missing, or taken prisoner. It is now called “Bloody Omaha”.”

POST DEATH EVENTS

John Trent Kincer is memorialized at the Mount Ephriam United Methodist Church Cemetery in Wythe County, Virginia.

Thank you John for your great sacrifice and service!

COMMENDATIONS

★ Purple Heart

★ Combat Infantryman Badge

★ Marksmanship Badge

★ World War II Victory Medal

★ American Campaign Medal

★ Army Presidential Unit Citation

★ Army Good Conduct Medal

★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign

SOURCES

Shttps://www.dday-overlord.com/en/battle-of-normandy/forces/usa/29th-infantry-divisionOURCES

Familysearch.org

Ancestry.com

Honorstates.org

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.

John T Kincer