Abercrombie Alexander Miller, “Alex”, born 07-05-1921 in Kilsyth,
North Lanarkshire, Scotland to John L. and Elizabeth Abercrombie. Alex had three sisters and one brother, Elizabeth “Bessie” (1919-1923)
, Mary and Kathryn, married Ford (1928-2015) and brother Robert Abercrombie. His hometown in the United States was Revloc Village and Cambria Township,
Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
Alexander Abercrombie attended Ebensburg-Cambria High School
for one year. After dropping out, he first worked at a filling station before he enlisted. He enlisted from Altoona, Pennsylvania on 09-09-1942. Alex was trained to be a medic and joined Able Company,
1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
under command of Colonel kolonel Robert Frederick “Bounding Bob” Sink
and was sent overseas to Europe.
Donald Robert “Don” Burgett,
a squad leader in Able company of the 506th PIR (and author of several great books about the paratroopers of the 101st AD ‘Screaming Eagles), wrote:”I was squad leader of the 2nd squad, 2nd platoon, A Co. at that time, 12-04-1945; the night President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
died. Alex Abercrombie died along with Charles A. Syer
Marcos S Santillan
and Floyd Roberts by German artillery fire; all of whom were buried by the Germans in a common grave. Their bodies were recovered by a patrol led by Jack Bram a couple of days later and brought back across the Rhine River in a rowboat.”
Death and burial ground of Alexander Miller Abercrombie, “Alex”.
During a barrage in the fields, Private Ralph Elkins was wounded and a medic took care of his wounds. “When the medic finished working on Elkins, we moved over to the ditch and found that the other medic, Alex Abercrombie, was also a casualty. Although up and about, he was bleeding from a temple wound, where a shell fragment had pierced the side of his helmet. After being bandaged, he was sent on ahead to where we were to meet the boats.”But when the rest of the patrol later assembles at the location of the boats on the shore of the Rhine River,
they discover that Abercrombie is not there. When the patrol of Sergeant Jack Bram
returns from their search for the dead men, 506th Private Donald B. Straith
discovers what probably happened.“When the group returned later that day, they brought back four – not three – bodies from the common grave in which they had been buried by some Polish workers (all the Germans had been pulled out of the area). Abercrombie, while on his way to the boats, had apparently passed out, bled to death, and was buried with the others. The 101st Airborne Division
in World War II’ ”Tec 5 Alexander Miller Abercrombie died 12-04-1945, at the age of 23, not far from Himmelgeist, a small town just south of the city Düsseldorf, which is part of Landkreis Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Alex is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten.Tec5 Alexander Miller Abercrombie was awarded a Purple Heart,
Combat Infantryman Badge,
World War II Victory Medal,
American Campaign Medal,
but taking into account his time and service within the ETO with Able Company of the 506th PIR he may have also qualified for the following awards as well: Parachutist Badge, Distinguished Unit Citation, Good Conduct Medal, and European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal. He was survived by his parents, one brother, and three sisters.










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