Beckner, Loyd Dexter.

Beckner, Loyd Dexter, born on 23-09-1922, in Philippi, West Virginia. Lloyd was the son of Dock Franklin Beckner and Virginia, born Poling “Virgie”, The photo on the right is Loyd with his sister Wilma on left and step-sister Blanch Schoonover on right. The photo left is Loyd, while home on leave, standing with his father Dock and stepmother Nora. Loyd’s mother had died when he was only a small child.

Loyd attended Philippi High School. After graduation, Loyd moved to New York City and found work at the hotel, New Yorker. Loyd registered for service on 30-06-1942, and after entering active service with the US Army and completing his basic training, he was assigned to Company A of the 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

The unit shipped out from the New York port on 03-06-1944 and arrived at Greenock, Scotland, on June 11th. Just over a month later, they boarded transports and landed at Utah Beach on the 31st of July. They were equipped with the 3″ towed anti-tank gun and committed to action on August 10th near Craon, France, participating in the elimination of the Falaise Pocket.

Racing east to the Moselle River by September, they converted to the M36 tank destroyer  in September–October and were the first unit to do so. The unit helped clear the Maginot Line fortifications in November. It was on December 10th that during an attack on Aachen, Germany, allied troops were under intense fire from a concealed enemy tank. Loyd’s crew dismounted their TD and moved forward on foot. The enemy tank continued to fire at them but they were finally able to score two direct hits on the hostile tank, destroying it.

Death and burial ground of Beckner, Loyd Dexter.

They were ordered to the Ardennes on December 21st and helped to eliminate the Bulge in January, 1945. On 18-01-1945, Private First Class, Loyd Dexter Beckner, age 22, was killed in action. We do not know the circumstances of his death but we do know that A Company was supporting the 319th Infantry Regiment, under command of Major General Donald A. Stroh, in their attack on the enemy, east of Dahl (Luxembourg) and met unexpectedly heavy resistance. The resistance was so heavy that they were forced to fall back. A letter sent home by Loyd, was just three days before his death.

The 319th Infantry Regiment was a unit of the U.S. Army’s 80th Infantry Division, nicknamed the “Blue Ridge Division”. It was constituted in August 1917 and activated in September of that year, serving in both World War I and World War II. During WWII, the regiment fought in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. 

Loyd was buried in a temporary location but was ultimately brought home and buried in the Mount Vernon Cemetery in Philippi, WV, on 21-08-1949. The 610th went on to battle through the Siegfried Line in February near Brandscheid and then transferred back south in March. Crossing the Rhine at Worms on March 29th, they raced through central and southern Germany in April and reached the vicinity of Munich by month’s end. They ended the war in Ingolstadt and took up occupation duties.

The unit received credit for campaigns in Northern France, the Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe. Loyd received the Purple Heart and posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for heroic achievement for his actions on 10-12-1944, in the vicinity of Achen, Germany.

In addition to Loyd, two of his brothers also served in WWII. Corporal Ralph Beckner was in the 137th Infantry Regiment of the Third Army, “Patton’s Own” under command of George Smith Patton and had been able to meet with Loyd in September 1944, while they were both in France. Ralph had been wounded in France, just one month earlier, in August. Their older brother Herbert was in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Key West, Florida, at the time of Loyd’s death.

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