Melvin C. Brunson

Company B 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

4th Infantry Division

DOW 12/05/1944

Melvin Christopher Brunson was born in Colfax, Grant Parish, Louisiana on May 3, 1919.

He was married and had one son and one daughter.
His religion was listed as Protestant.

Prior to entering military service he was employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps
Headquarters District E at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana.

His Army serial number indicates he was drafted into the Army.

The application for his grave marker indicates he entered the Army on May 17, 1944.

He was assigned to Company A 22nd Infantry from the 92nd Replacement Battalion on November 25, 1944.

He was transferred to Company B on November 28, 1944.

Private Brunson died on December 5, 1944, of wounds received in action
in Germany on December 3, 1944, during the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest.

Between 8:30 and 9:30 in the morning of December 3 the Germans attacked 1st Battalion's positions
south of Gey. Fighting to hold off the German attack Private Brunson was mortally wounded by small arms fire.
According to the casualty lists of the 22nd Infantry for the month of December 1944 Brunson died from his wounds
two days later on December 5.

The following passage from Paschendale with Treebursts by CSM Robert Rush mentions the action in which
Private Melvin Brunson was mortally wounded:

Lieutenant Ramey, the 44th Field Artillery observer, Sergeant Jozwiak, 3d Platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant William Sparks,
Tech Sergeant Nicholas J. Variano, Private Melvin Brunson, and Lieutenant William Murray lay in another hole.
They also received heavy suppressive fire. Just after the Germans overran the Adkins-Gaskey-Coyle-Guthrie position,
Private Brunson was hit in the head and rifle stock by two bullets. He lay there mortally wounded and hemorrhaging,
but continued to fire his rifle into the air. He kept asking those around him, "Did I do right?" ¹

Decorations of Melvin C. Brunson

Melvin C. Brunson was buried in the temporary U.S. Military Cemetery,
Henri-Chapelle Cemetery, Eupen, Belgium and some time later
his remains were returned to the United States where he was
reinterred in Louisiana.

Burial:
Dry Prong Cemetery
Dry Prong
Grant Parish
Louisiana

Grave marker for Melvin C. Brunson

Photo by Wylie Blackwell from the Find A Grave website

Grave monument for Melvin C. Brunson

Photo by Wylie Blackwell from the Find A Grave website

Grave monument for Melvin C. Brunson

Photo by Wylie Blackwell from the Find A Grave website

¹ Paschendale with Treebursts A History and Analysis of the 22d Infantry Regiment During the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest
16 November through 3 December 1944 by Robert S. Rush Copyright September 1996

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