WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - PFC Donald J. Justinger

 

Private First Class

Donald Joseph Justinger

When Donald Justinger was born in Paulding County, Ohio, on February 16, 1921, his father, Alfred Joseph Justinger, was 20, and his mother, Esther (Brown) Justinger, was just 19. Donald, however, was raised by his grandparents, Daniel and Lucy Brown. In the 1930 Census of Auglaize Township, Donald and his brother, Worth, and sister, Beatrice, all lived with their grandparents.

On January 5, 1942, Donald married Alberta Ellen Nichols in Paulding. At the time of Donald's death, he left a two-year-old daughter, Donna Jean Justinger.

Donald filled out his draft registration on February 16, 1921, noting his place of residence as six miles south of Defiance.  Prior to his enlistment on October 12, 1942, in Toledo, he worked as a foreman on a railroad section crew. His draft card said he was 5'8" and 155 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

Private Justinger was assigned to the 330th Infantry which was part of the 83rd Infantry Division. The unit served in the European Theater, fighting campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, and the Ardenne-Alsace regions.

Donald died in the line of duty on August 8, 1944, at the age of 23 near Manche, France. According to WW II Hospital Admissions cards, he was admitted to a service hospital but died the same day as a "casualty in the line of duty."

St. Malo, Brittany coast, France

The website called Brothers in Arms has an account by Thomas Dickson Curry, a member of Company F, 331st Infantry, 83rd Division describing the battle that was going on in France about the time of PFC Justinger's death.

"The 83rd Division then assembled near Feugeres, and on 3 through 5 August, they moved out of the Contentin Peninsula and turned west into Brittany. The roads were strewn with German tanks, trucks and staff cars, and often with dead Germans. On the coast near Mont St. Michel, Pontorson and Dol-de-Bretagne, they received orders to capture the port towns of St. Malo and Dinared.

St. Malo was the main port on the northern coast of Brittany. Because of its turbulent past as a privateer stronghold, the town was protected by stone walls. U.S. Intelligence estimated between 3,000 and 6,000 German troops occupied St. Malo.  Actually 12,000 defended the walled city, and they vowed to 'fight to the last stone.'

American soldiers shooting at German snipers
in St. Malo

  

 It would take two weeks of street fighting to  raze St. Malo. On 6 August, the Germans demolished all the quays, locks, breakwaters, and harbor machinery and set fire to the city.

( PFC Justinger was killed on August 8.)

On 9th August, the enemy defenders were forced back to the Citadel at St. Servan and to Dinard on the west bank of the river, just opposite St. Malo. There they held the GIs at bay from underground pillboxes and camouflaged strong points. Days of house to house fighting under thick smoke, artillery fire, and fighter-bomber attacks could not convince the Germans to give up.

Finally, direct hits by 8 inch guns destroyed much of the enemy artillery and machine gun emplacements and forced them to surrender. Frank Reichmann, in the 1st battalion of the 331st, said that a platoon of captured Germans started singing farewell to their commander. Most of them were in tears."

Back home, the Crescent-News announced the death of PFC Donald J. Justinger on August 31, 1944:

PFC Donald J. Justinger was brought home and buried in Riverside Cemetery in Section 26, Soldiers Circle.  His father, Alfred Justinger, requested the upright marble headstone.

Riverside Cemetery

**We could locate no photo of this brave soldier to complete this biography. If you have one, we hope you will send us a copy at defiancegenealogy2002@gmail.com.

Mary Williams, Researcher

Joseph Brown - G.A.R., Bishop Post

Joseph Brown was probably one of the oldest men in the enlistment line on October 12, 1861.  He gave his age as 44, but a birthdate in 1810 would have made him 51, if that birthdate is valid.

He enlisted in Company B, 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry which organized in Napoleon at Camp Latty and was led by Sidney Sprague, Captain.  Joseph was appointed as a corporal and on May 13, 1864, was promoted to Sergeant.

This unit went first from Napoleon to Columbus and then on to Tennessee where it traveled by steamer to Pittsburgh Landing.  The regiment suffered greatly from illness and in the spring of 1862, one thousand men were reduced to 250 who were capable of duty at one point.

During the Battle of Shiloh they stayed in the rear, guarding the railroad and at Corinth, they dug entrenchments and built roads and bridges.  In the spring of 1863, they moved to Louisiana and helped dig the Lake Providence canal for Union ships to use and then joined in the Battle of Vicksburg.  The unit was used to escort six hundred Confederate soldiers to Vicksburg.  Again disease struck and 1/3 of the 68th found themselves hospitalized.

In March of 1864, those men who reenlisted were granted a furlough home, returning in May.  After that, it was fighting all the way through Atlanta with Sherman and then into the Carolinas.
"The regiment's members set foot in every seceded state except for Florida and Texas.  These Ohioans also marched over 7000 miles and traveled by train or steamboat over 6000 miles." (68th Regiment O.V.I. Ohio Civil War Central, 2017. wwww.ohiocivilwarcentral.com)

Joseph Brown mustered out with his unit on July 10, 1865.

When Joseph enlisted, he left his wife Esther (nee Baird) at home with three children: Robert, Esther, and John.  By 1870, the family was settled in Brown Township, Paulding County.  Joseph was 58 and Esther, 50, and with them wre their two sons, Robert, 21, and John, 20 and Mary E. Rickner, 12, at home and going to school - (no relationship noted).  Joseph farmed land worth $2500 at the time.  He remained there in 1880.

He was reported on the Veterans Census in 1890 with the enumerator commenting that Joseph was "in bad shape and old."  To think of what Joseph lived through in late middle age is astounding.  He died on October 24, 1898.

The Daily Crescent reported that same day:
"Obituary.  Joseph Brown died this morning at 11 o'clock at his home in Defiance township three miles south of the city.  Mr. Brown was 88 years old and was the oldest soldier in the Grand Army of the Republic.  The arrangements for the funeral will be made at the meeting of the G.A.R. this evening."

The funeral occurred at his home and he was buried at Taylor Cemetery.

Strangely, a Spanish American War star is on the grave.  He died in 1898, making service in that war improbable at the age of 88!

(This is part of a series on Civil War veterans of Defiance County who were part of the G.A.R., Bishop Post, that headquartered in the city.  Formed in 1879, the post was named after a local man, Captain William Bishop, Company D, 100th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Army who died as a result of wounds received in battle.  The veterans' photos are part of a composite photo of members that has survived.  If you have other information or corrections to add to the soldiers' stories, please add to the comments!)