Mount Ephraim Servicemen who participated in D-Day

To mark the anniversary of D-Day, I wish to remember 3 servicemen from Mount Ephraim who took part in this momentous occasion.  



Sergeant Joseph Kelly was the radio operator aboard a C-47 aircraft that transported paratroopers into France in the early morning of June 6. "It was the greatest show on earth and I am certainly glad to say I was on it. We dropped our troops and supplies right on the bullseye amid all the flak that was being thrown at us." Kelly, a 1942 Audubon High School alumni, lived at 722 Gaskill Avenue. He enlisted in the Army after graduation and was sent to radio school in Chicago. Kelly was assigned to a troop carrier unit at Maxton, NC., where he was stationed for several months before heading to England in early 1943. 



Corporal William H. Munro Jr. was a paratrooper who saw 37 days of action in France. He injured his knee upon landing deep into enemy territory on D-Day. His regiment was scattered as were dropped in the wrong area. Munro was listed as MIA for 9 days as a result. Of 18 reported missing, only he and 4 others safely returned to their unit. William lived at 718 Gaskill Avenue in Mt. Ephraim and had attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden until 1941 at which time he joined the Army. He received his first training at Ft. Dix, NJ.  



Corporal Delbert K. Sandt was with the invasion force that crossed the English Channel to the France on D-Day. He served with Headquarters Company of the 747th Tank Battalion.  Del and his crew were only spectators to the landings on June 6th, 1944. The British LCT (Landing Craft-Tank) which transported his tank, was waiting a few miles offshore of "Omaha" Beach. The mass of machinery and manpower cluttered the landing site leaving them with nowhere to disembark. The next day, Sandt drove his tank, nicknamed "Hellzapoppin," onto the Normandy beach and got right into the fight. Del unfortunately was killed in action on June 16th in the area of Couvains.


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