Pvt. Eugene F. Crofutt
U.S. Army (32744868)
157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
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Eugene Frederick Crofutt was born May 8, 1923, in Weedville, Elk County, Pennsylvania, to Addison Brigham (1883-1941) and Carrie Gertrude Ovell (1888-1973) Crofutt. According to U.S. Census Records, Addison was a farmer and Carrie was a housewife. Eugene was the youngest of nine children joining sisters, Lilian (1915-?) and Bernice (1916-2009), and brother, Arthur Melvin (1921-1989). Sisters Muriel Lavern (1905-1905), Grace Estella (1908-1909), and Gertrude Eleanor (1910-1922), and brothers Bertram (1906-1907) and George Clinton (1919-1919) and his father preceded him in death.
Eugene’s older brother, Arthur Melvin Crofutt. enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on September 3, 1941, in New York City. He served as a Staff Sergeant in World War II, and is buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.
According to U.S. Army Enlistment records, Eugene completed grammar school. Eugene was working as a janitor for the U.S. Engineers at the Rome Air Depot when he registered for the draft on June 30, 1942. He was drafted into the U.S. Army on January 25, 1943. He was stationed at Fort McClellan, Alabama (decommissioned), and at Camp Reynolds, Greenville, Pennsylvania (1942-1946). Camp Reynolds Shenango Personnel Replacement Depot was a U.S. Army facility built in 1942 to serve as a staging and processing area for soldiers for the European Theater of Operations in WWII. Replacement depots were commonly called “repple depples.’ (https://www.campreynolds.com/history-page/history-page.htm)
Pvt. Crofutt was assigned to the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. According to 157th Combat History (https://www.45thdivision.org/CampaignsBattles/157thCombat.htm), the regiment was first committed to battle on July 10, 1943, in Sicily. In September, 1943, the 157th participated in the landings at Salerno, Italy. In October, showers were arranged and the first clean clothes in more than forty days were issued. After a brief spell in reserve, the regiment did battle with the Germans, the mountains, and the cold until relieved on January 10, 1944, after 72 days of combat. However, in December 1943, Pvt. Crofutt was injured by the blast of an artillery shell causing wounds to his head and arm. He succumbed to those injuries on December 15, 1943, at age 20.
Pvt. Eugene F. Crofutt is buried in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial, Nettuno, Citta Metropolitana di Roma Capitale, Lazio, Italy, Plot I, Row 11, Grave 37.
Pvt. Crofutt was awarded the Purple Heart according to HonorStates.org (https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/93039/).
A memorial headstone is located in the Mount Zion Cemetery, Caledonia, Elk County, Pennsylvania, the site of his parents’ graves and those of several of his siblings.
Pvt. Crofutt was awarded the Rome, New York, Medal of Honor with the following citation:
“The Citizens of Rome, New York, are proud of you, and in recognition of your valiant service and sacrifice made for your County in World War Conflict No. II, present to you this Medal of Honor and trust it will always be a reminder of the deepest appreciation of the Citizens of Rome, New York.”
Present by the Rome Veterans’ Welcome Home Committee
From the Mt. Zion Historical Society of Pennsylvania, this poem was dedicated to the mothers of Jay and Benezette Townships whose sons in the service of their country were killed or missing in action. Pvt. Eugene Crofutt is listed among those fallen. (https://veterans.mtzionhistoricalsociety.org/)
The Telegram
By Eunice Mildred LonCoske
The same bird is calling
Over and over;
Our children laugh by
The garden wall;
The same bees hum in
The purple clover –
Oh, nothing has
Changed in my world at all!
The same wind lifts and
The same wind creases
The starched white curtains
Drifting like foam;
Only my life has shattered
To pieces,
Only the hearth has gone
From the home.
LEST WE FORGET
Sources
Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32924300/eugene-frederick-crofutt
The author regrets having misplaced the references and citations for this profile. They will be added (or reconstructed) when possible.
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