2nd Lt. Gerald B. Fagan
United States Army Air Corps (1942-1943)
Gerald Benedict Fagan was born on March 21,
1914 in Castle Shannon to parents Patrick T. and Ida E. Fagan. He had five brothers,
Charles, Thomas, Patrick, William and Phillip. The Fagan family moved to Brookline
and settled at 822 Woodbourne Avenue. Gerald and his brothers attended Resurrection
Elementary School.
Gerald's father Patrick, a former coal miner,
served as president of United Mine Workers District #5 from 1922 to 1943. He survived
a 1931 assassination attempt by using the attackers gun to defend himself, eventually
killing the would-be assassin. In 1936 he helped create the Steelworkers Organizing
Committee and, when war broke out, became Area Director of the War Manpower
Commission.
Brothers William, Patrick, Gerald, Phillip and
Charles in their back yard at 822 Woodbourne Avenue.
After three years at South Hills High School,
Gerald, following in his father's footsteps, entered the coal mining business. He
worked as a Coal Inspector for the City of Pittsburgh. On February 17, 1941, the
Pennsylvania National Guard was federalized and designated as the 28th Infantry
Division. On September 9, Gerald was drafted into the famous "Iron" Division, named for
it's heroic resistance against the Germans in World War I.
A group of recruits from Pittsburgh trying on
their new uniforms at the reception area in New Cumberland, PA on
October 12, 1941. Gerald B. Fagan is standing in the third row, first on the left, in
this Sun-Telegraph photo.
After completing boot camp at Camp Wheeler,
Georgia, in January 1942, Private Gerald Fagan returned home for a short furlough
before joining the division at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. The division was then
placed under the IV Corps of the U.S. Third Army.
During this time Gerald entered Officer's
Candidate School and, upon graduation, was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant
assigned to the 109th Infantry Regiment, another storied unit which carried the
nickname "The Old Gray Mare." Lieutenant Fagan was an officer of Company C, 1st
Infantry Battalion.
Gerald Fagan at Officer's Candidate
School. From September through November 1942, the
28th Keystone Division took part in Third Army Maneuvers in Louisiana. It spent the
first three months of 1943 receiving special training in amphibious warfare at
Carrabell, Florida and was assigned to the VII Corps of the U.S. Second Army. In
August 1943 the division began two months of maneuvers in the mountainous terrain of
West Virginia.
GOING OVER THERE
On October 8, 1943, the division departed the
United States for the European Theatre of Operations. Upon arrrival in the United
Kingdom, 2nd Lt. Fagan and the rest of the 28th Division, now part of General Omar
Bradley's U.S. First Army, received six months of extensive training in Wales. Lt.
Fagan returned to Brookline in February, 1944, on furlough after completing a 20-week
cycle. After a memorable visit with family and friends, he returned to England and
rejoined his unit in March to complete their invasion preparations.
In April 1944 the division was relocated to
England and, because of their prior amphibious training, was transfered to General
George S. Patton's Third Army. During this time the 109th Regiment was located in
Wiltshire, England for three months. The highlight of this training was time spent
at the Assault Training Center at Braunton, Devonshire, England.
The 28th Division did not participate in the
D-Day landings. Third Army was held in England for an additional month before
embarking for France. This was part of a calculated plan to trick the Germans into
thinking that the Normandy Invasion was only a diversionary attack. It was also
designed to give General Bradley's First Army time to soften the German defenses
in preparation for Operation Cobra, the Third Army's offensive breakout.
On July 19, 1944, Lt. Gerald B. Fagan and the
109th Regiment were transported to a marshalling area near Southampton to prepare for
crossing the English Channel that evening. They landed on Omaha Beach the following day.
The men disembarked from the ship onto the beach and saw their first vivid images of
war. Debris were everywhere, but there were no bodies. Once they moved inland, that
changed. They soon witnessed the human cost of war.
BAPTISM OF FIRE
The Keystone Division gradually moved into
positions behind the 35th Division, not far from the strategic town of St. Lo, to
await their orders to replace those battered troops and experience front line combat
and their "baptism of fire" for the first time in the hedgerows of Normandy. While
the 110th and 112th Regiments began their first day of combat by taking the town of
Percy on July 31, the 109th Regiment was still held in reserve.
Officers of the 109th Infantry Regiment before
their first engagement with the Germans in Normandy (left)
and members of the regiment with the latest edition of the GI newspaper
"Stars and Stipes."
Lt. Fagan and the 109th Regiment saw their
first combat action on August 5, when they attacked German positions at Foret de St.
Sever. The engagement took place on the north edge of the town. The regiment fought
in this general area, during the "Breakout from Normandy" for the next five days
along with units of the 2nd Armored Division as they pushed toward the town of
Gathemo.
Video Of The 28th Division At Gathemo
The 28th Division began their attack on
Gathemo on August 10, as they pushed beyond Normandy to squeeze the Germans into
the rapidly closing Falaise Pocket. All during the night of August 11 the fighting
continued. Gathemo was reduced to rubble as the stubborn defenders refused a full
retreat. German 88mm guns were still hitting the positions of the 109th Regiment at the
edge of the woods outside of town. American casualties mounted.
Infantrymen of the 109th Regiment pass
through Argentan (left) and with Canadians in Elbeuf.
It was recorded that on August 19, near
Argentan, the men of the 109th Regiment got their first showers and clean clothes
since landing in France a month earlier. Unfortunately for the men there was no
time to relax. The next day the Falaise Gap was sealed and the 28th Division
pushed on to capture the town of Elbeuf.
The units were now moving 15-20 miles per
day, held up only by snipers. Towns like Vernauil, Breteuil, Damville, Conchos,
Le Neubourg fell in rapid succession. Along the way Lt. Fagan and his men saw the
carnage heaped upon the retreating enemy. Thousands of dead horses, vehicles,
machinery and the mangled bodies of German soldiers littered their
path.
Scenes of devastation were a familiar sight
after the Battle of the Falaise Pocket during the German retreat.
THE LIBERATION OF PARIS
The Germans were fighting a rearguard action
and offered only token resistance at Elbeuf while the bulk of their forces crossed
the Seine River and evacuated the French capital city. After taking Elbeuf the
division hurriedly crossed the River Seine and reached the outskirts of Paris
on the 28th of August. The division quickly assembled in the Bois de Boulogne
as they were chosen to march in the upcoming parade to celebrate the Liberation of Paris.
Map showing movement of Allied units towards
the River Seine. The 28th Division movement is in red.
On August 29, the Keystone Division
entered the City of Light. The men paraded through the French capital, under
battle conditions before a populace delirious with joy. They marched 24-abreast
up the Avenue Hoche to the Arc de Triomphe, then down the Champs Élysées. As the
procession passed, Generals Omar Bradley and Charles De Gaulle laid flowers at
the foot of Napolean's Triumphal Arch. Once through the heart of Paris the columns
continued on to assigned attack positions northeast of the city.
Video Of The 28th Division Marching Through
Paris
The 28th Division, including 2nd Lt. Gerald
B. Fagan, marches through Paris on August 29, 1944.
NO TIME FOR CELEBRATION
For Lt. Gerald B. Fagan and the men of the
28th Division, there was no time to rest or celebrate. The rapid advance continued
on through the Forest of Compeigne, La Fere, St Quentin, Laen, Rethel, Sedan,
Mezieros and Bouilion. On September 6 the crossing of the Meuse River was
accomplished.
The Division swept into Belgium averaging
advances of seventeen miles a day against the sporadic resistance of German
roadblocks and small “battle groups.” The city of Arlon, Belgium fell to a small
task force while the bulk of the Division fanned out into Luxembourg. On September
11, the 109th sent small patrols over the Our River to be the first Allied soldiers
to cross into the German fatherland since the Army of Napoleon
Bonaparte.
Members of the 109th Infantry Regiment cross
the Siegfried Line on September 11, 1944.
Here is where the German resistance
stiffened. Pillboxes, minefields, pre-sighted artillery and prepared gun
emplacements awaited any Allied soldiers who dared attempt an advance into
German territory. It would take days of heavy fighting against deadly bunkers
before the men of the 109th Regiment were able to make a substantial movement
beyond the infamous Dragon's Teeth of the Siegfried Line.
By the evening of September 14th, the
regiment was able to secure the town of Sevenig in Germany, after taking out
twenty-seven pillboxes. In the process they were dodging persistent artillery
fire and mortars. Worse, casualties were mounting rapidly. Dead, wounded and
missing now totalled over 360 men. One of those casualties was Brookline's
Lt. Gerald B. Fagan, who died that afternoon on the outskirts of Sevenig,
Germany.
THE KEYSTONE DIVISION KEEPS
ROLLING ON
After Lt. Fagan's death the 28th Division kept
hammering away in assaults which destroyed or captured 153 pillboxes and bunkers.
The division then moved north and cleared the Monschau Forest of German forces in the
area east of Elsenborn, Rocherath, and Krinkelt, Belgium. In November 1944, the 28th
was moved further north to participate in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest.
After two weeks of savage fighting and appalling
casualties, the Iron Division was moved from the Hürtgen Forest south to a quiet section
of the front near the Elsenborn Ridge for rest and rehabilitation. Little did they know
that they were placed right in the path of Germany's final large-scale assault in the
west, known to American's as the Battle of the Bulge.
The resistance by the Division against Field
Marshall Von Rundstedt's assault was termed "one of the greatest feats in the history
of the American Army." The division took so many casualties during their stubborn
defense that it was given the nickname "The Bloody Bucket Division" by the Germans.
The men wearing the Blood Red Keystone had thrown the German assault timetable
completely off schedule and inflicted tremendous losses on the enemy.
During early January 1945, the Division received
nearly 1000 replacements and was tasked with the defense of the Meuse River from Givet,
Belgium to Verdun, France. Later that month a move to the south, to Alsace, was made.
There the 28th Division had the experience of serving in the French First Army during the
reduction of the "Colmar Pocket," and to it went the honor of capturing Colmar, the last major French city in
German hands.
The 109th Regiment parades through the town
of Colmar (left) and crossed the Siegfried Line in February 1945.
CROSSING INTO GERMANY
Near the end of February, the Division had
returned north to the American First Army and was in the line along the Olef River.
March 6 was the jump-off date for an attack which carried the Division to the Ahr
River. The towns of Schleiden, Gomund, Kall, Sotenich, Sistig and Blankonheim all
fell in a rapid advance. Many prisoners and large stores of enemy weapons, equipment
and ammunition were taken.
The Division then crossed the Rhine and occupied
an area south of the "Ruhr Pocket" in anticipation of a southward drive by the surrounded German forces. Early
in April the Keystoners moved west of the Rhine and took up temporary occupation duties
in the area north of Aachen along the Holland-German border. Two weeks later came a move
to a permanent occupation area; the Saarland and Rhonish Palatinate.
Early in July the Division started redeployment
to the United States, arriving home in August 1945. After V-J Day, the 28th Division
reassembled at Camp Shelby, Mississippi and was inactivated on December 12,
1945.
A SOLEMN
REQUIEM
As for Brookline's 2nd Lt. Gerald B. Fagan,
his parents were notified of his death in late-October, 1944. The Pittsburgh Press
ran a short obituary on November 2, and a solemn requiem High Mass was sung at
Resurrection Church on November 5.
After the war, Gerald's body was permanently
interred in Plot A, Row 1, Grave 28 of the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Hombourg, Belgium. He shares the same burial
location as another fallen Brookline soldier, Sgt. Michael J. Mahoney, who as civilians lived only a block or so away from
each other.
Three of Gerald's younger brothers also served
during World War II and survived to return home. Gerald's father, Patrick T. Fagan, the
former coal miner who served as president of United Mine Workers District #5, helped
create the Steelworkers Organizing Committee and became Area Director of the War Manpower
Commission, went on to serve leadership roles in the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union and
the CIO’s Steel City Industrial Union Council.
He also served on Pittsburgh’s City Council
from 1953 to 1968, and was one of only four City Councilmembers ever to live in the
Brookline community. Patrick T. Fagan passed away in 1973. The Mount Washington
overlook at Shiloh and Grandview Avenues is named for him in honor of his work as
a councilman.
Patrick T. Fagan with his son, Gerald, at
a Mineworker's Union function in 1941.
* Thanks to Michele Fagan for
sharing her family photos *
* Written by Clint Burton:
April 7, 2018 - Updated August 12, 2019 *
The Brookline
War Memorial
Listed below are
many of the sons of Brookline who gave their
lives to preserve freedom and contain aggression during
World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
General George S. Patton
World War I
(1917-1919)
The World War I Memorial -
Washington D.C.
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World War II
(1941-1945)
Alm, William H.
Pioneer Avenue
Army
Details |
Arensberg, Roy T.
Fernhill Avenue
Army
Details |
Bracey, Bruce H.
Plainview Avenue
Army
Details |
Brickley, Edward G.
Woodward Avenue
Army
Details |
Capogreca, James J.
Merrick Avenue
Navy
Details |
Copeland, Clarence R.
Creedmoor Avenue
Navy
Details |
Cullison, Thomas J.
Birtley Avenue
Army
Details |
Dempsey, Howard F.
Berkshire Avenue
Army
Details |
Dempsey, Walter F.
Milan Avenue
Navy
Details |
Diegelman, Edward R. Jr
Norwich Avenue
Army
Details |
Dornetto, Frank P.
Jacob Street
Navy
Details |
Doyle, John F Jr.
Eben Street
Navy
Details |
Fagan, Gerald B.
Woodbourne Avenue
Army
Details |
Falk, Harold E.
Pioneer Avenue
Army
Details |
Fehring, Robert M.
Fernhill Avenue
Army
Details |
Gmuca, Joseph J.
Brookline Boulevard
Army
Details |
Heil, Robert F.
Bayridge Avenue
Army
Details |
Hynes, Richard E.
Waddington Avenue
Army
Details |
Kestler, Paul C.
Creedmoor Avenue
Navy
Details |
Ketters, Robert C.
Berkshire Avenue
Army
Details |
Mahoney, Michael J.
Oakridge Street
Army
Details |
Majestic, Arthur B.
Starkamp Avenue
Army
Details |
Mayberry, Alexander G.
Breining Street
Army
Details |
Mazza, John
Alwyn Street
Army
Details |
McCann, Robert F.
Edgebrook Avenue
Navy
Details |
McFarland, Hugh R.
McNeilly Road
Army
Details |
Meisner, Walter F.
Berwin Avenue
Merchant Marine
Details |
Miller, William J.
Norwich Avenue
Army
Details |
Napier, Edward J.
Brookline Boulevard
Army
Details |
Nicholson, John D.
Woodbourne Avenue
Army
Details |
O'Day, John R.
Creedmoor Avenue
Navy
Details |
Orient, Andrew D.
Fordham Avenue
Army
Details |
Pisiecki, Raymond A.
Wolford Avenue
Army
Details |
Reeves, Alfred M.
Brookline Boulevard
Army
Details |
Reitmeyer, John P.
Bellaire Avenue
Navy
Details |
Rhing, Vern M.
Norwich Avenue
Army
Details |
Ruane, Roy J.
Berkshire Avenue
USMC
Details |
Shannon, Harry C.
Midland Street
Army
Details |
Shannon, Jack E.
Midland Street
USMC
Details |
Simpson, James D.
Woodbourne Avenue
Army
Details |
Spack, Harry
Linial Avenue
Army
Details |
Tobin, Paul M.
Woodbourne Avenue
Army
Details |
Vierling, Howard F.
Fordham Avenue
Army
Details |
Wagner, Ralph G.
Shawhan Avenue
Army
Details |
Wentz, Walter L. Jr
Woodbourne Avenue
Army
Details |
Zeiler, Harold V.
West Liberty Avenue
Army
Details |
The World War II Memorial -
Washington D.C.
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Korean War
(1950-1953)
Korean War Memorial -
Washington D.C.
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Vietnam War
(1965-1973)
Vietnam War Memorial -
Washington D.C.
The Brookline
Monument - The Cannon
<Brookline
War Memorial> <> <Brookline
History> |