John Gresham Minniece Jr. was born on February 2, 1908, in Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi. He was the son of John Gresham Minniece and Mary M. Young Minniece. He was married to Laura Mitchell Austin. He attended Mississippi A & M (now Mississippi State University) before graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1929. A strong academic and skilled marksman, he chose the Cavalry due to his lifelong love of horses. His early career included service with the Air Corps and the Cavalry, advanced training at the Cavalry School, and assignments with the Remount Service. In 1941, he joined the 5th Cavalry, and on January 29, 1943, he assumed command of the 603rd Tank Destroyer Battalion.

Under his leadership, the battalion trained on the new M18 tank destroyers, deployed to England in April 1944, and landed on Utah Beach in Normandy. The unit entered combat during the Cobra breakout in July 1944 and advanced through Brittany toward Brest and Lorient while attached to the 6th Armored Division. Lt. Col. Minniece was wounded on August 1, 1944, returned to his unit, and was killed on August 9, 1944, in a nighttime incident involving a soldier from a nearby unit. He is buried at the Brittany American Cemetery in Saint-James, France.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, tankdestroyer.net