Harry E. Guthrie

Harry E. Guthrie Jr.

Company B 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

4th Infantry Division

KIA 12/02/1944

Harry Edward Guthrie Jr. was born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois on December 19, 1920.

His home of residence was listed as Cook County, Illinois.
His religion was listed as Catholic.

Prior to entering military service he was employed by the Continental Can Company in Chicago.

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

The application for his grave marker indicates he entered military service on December 5, 1942.

He was assigned to Company B as a Private First Class from the 92nd Replacement Battalion
on November 18, 1944.

Private First Class Guthrie was killed in action in Germany during the battle of the Hürtgen Forest,
on December 2, 1944.

Private First Class James Townsend, a Baker Company soldier manning a heavy .30 caliber machine gun borrowed from
Dog Company, had dug in at the corner of the house. From his hole sixty yards to the right rear, Sergeant Jozwiak watched
Townsend fire his machine gun until a German hand grenade destroyed it. Townsend then grabbed a burp gun from the debris
around him and continued fighting until a German shot that out of his hands. Other Germans ganged up and took him prisoner.
Private Melvin McNamee, in the same foxhole as Townsend, fired his Ml rifle until he too was captured. There were just
too many Germans.

After taking the house and the position held by Townsend and McNamee, ten to fifteen German infantrymen assaulted the
next hole held by three Charlie Company heavy machine gunners, Corporal Robert Adkins, Private First Class Jay Gaskey,
and Private First Class John Coyle, Jr., supported by Private Harry Guthrie, a Baker Company rifleman. The Germans
maneuvered close to the position then threw hand grenades into it, while their comrades suppressed the American return fire
with rifle fire. Two grenades exploded in the hole blowing Adkins' machine gun from his hands. Then a Panzerfaust round
hit the hole, killing Guthrie and stunning the other soldiers. The dazed GIs were then quickly captured. *

Harry E. Guthrie 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 Illinois on November 23, 1947.

Chicago Tribune (IL) - November 20, 1947
Pfc. Harry E. Guthrie, U. S. A., killed in action in Germany, Dec. 2, 1944, with 22d Inf. Reg., 4th Div.,
son of Theresa and the late Harry, brother of Edward.
Funeral Saturday, 9:30 a.m., from chapel, 3424 W. 63d street, Mass at St. Symphorosa church.
Interment St. Mary

from the Find A Grave website

Burial:
Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum
Evergreen Park
Cook County
Illinois
Plot: Sec A Blk 20

Grave marker for Harry E. Guthrie
Note: PFC Guthrie was killed when his father was still alive, making him a "Jr." when he died.
His father died two years later, in 1946, one year before PFC Guthrie was interred in the United States.
Thus, at the time the above grave marker was established, the "Jr." was left off the marker.

Photo by Rich from the Find A Grave website

* Paschendale with Treebursts
A History and Analysis of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
During the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest
16 November through 3 December 1944

By Robert S. Rush 1996

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