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Heitmann Raymond August

Name:
Raymond August Heitmann
Rank:
Technician 5th Grade
Serial Number:
37403877
Unit:
197th Anti Aircraft Artillery Battalion
Date of Death:
1944-12-19
State:
Missouri
Cemetery:
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery
Plot:
D
Row:
6
Grave:
19
Decoration:
Purple Heart
Comments:

Raymond August Heitmann was born on August 7, 1922 in Union, Missouri. He was the son of John Minard Heitmann and Katherine Johannsmann Heitmann. Raymond served in 197th Anti Aircraft Artillery Battalion as a Technician 5th Grade during World War II. He died on December 19, 1944 and is now buried in the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Hombourg, Belgium. He was one of the victims of Malmedy massacre when German SS soldiers of the 1st Panzer Division captured over 100 American soldiers at Baugnez Crossroads outside Malmedy, Belgium, on 17 December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge and, under orders to take no prisoners, placed them in an open field and then machine gunned them. When the machine guns stopped, the SS went through the field where some victims were still alive and systematically finished them off with pistols at short range leaving 84 soldiers dead when they had finished. Fortunately, when the machine guns first started shooting, a number of soldiers ran and some managed to escape and tell the story of how the Germans had treated the others who had not survived.