PVT Merll C. Connor
Source: c/o Judy Cahoon Egan
Private (PVT) Merll Clarence Connor of Baker Company, 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion (AEB), 101st Airborne Division, was born in Clinton, Oklahoma, to Robert L. and Dora M. (Grooms) Coynor on February 22, 1923. He had one brother, Ernest L. Connor, and two sisters, Roberta R. and Helen E. Connor.
His brother Ernest served in the Pacific with Charlie Battery, 93rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (AAA Bn) during WWII and was authorized to carry one bronze service star on the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Ribbon for participating in the Central Pacific Campaign. The 93rd AAA Bn participated in a series of invasions on several islands occupied by the Japanese, which included the invasion of Makin Island, and ending with Ie Shima, the last one before V-J Day.
After Dora had passed away at age 23 in 1929, their father left the family, remarried, and had another family. The four children were placed in a home for children, the West Oklahoma Home in Helena, Oklahoma. This was Oklahoma's second official state orphanage. While growing up in Helena, Merll attended the local high school. According to a newspaper article, he was a fine athlete who played baseball and basketball.
Merll signed up for the draft in Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma, on June 29, 1942. At the time, he worked at the civilian cadet mess of the Enid Army Flying School.
Later that year, on December 25, 1942, he married Mary L. Slighton in San Francisco, California. Their marriage was blessed with the birth of a boy, Merll Clarence Connor, on January 11, 1944.
Merll enlisted in the United States Army in San Francisco on July 1, 1943, and his first assignment was with Charlie Company of the 55th Engineer Training Battalion at Camp Abbot, Oregon. Located in central Oregon, Camp Abbot was used to train combat engineers during WWII.
On October 9, 1943, he was assigned to the Automotive School, Normoyle Ordnance Depot, at San Antonio, Texas, for the purpose of attending a basic course. At the Automotive School, students were trained in every phase of motor maintenance. They were taught to drive all types of vehicles in all conditions and to make repairs under the most adverse circumstances.
On March 18, 1944, Merll is listed on transfer list #300 of the Headquarters Replacement Depot at Camp Beale, California, and four days later, he reported to the ASF Replacement Depot at Camp Reynolds, Pennsylvania. In all probability, he then sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to England, where Merll was assigned from the 19th Replacement Depot to Baker Company, 326th AEB, on June 4, 1944.
Merll just missed the combat period of the 326th in Normandy, but the final preparations for his first combat operation started on September 6, 1944, when he was sent to the Parachute Jump School of the 101st Airborne Division in England to get his jump wings. He reported back to Baker Company as a full-fledged paratrooper on September 14th.
Depending on the platoon PVT Merll Connor was assigned to, he either jumped into the Netherlands with 3rd Platoon of Baker Company on September 17, 1944, or he was inserted by glider with Baker Company’s 1st or 2nd Platoon on September 18, 1944, as part of Operation Market Garden. Knowing he had just finished jump training, he probably jumped with 3rd Platoon on September 17 at Drop Zone A. When the operations ended in the Netherlands at the end of November, he travelled to Mourmelon, France, for some rest and recuperation.
At the start of the last major German offensive, known as the Battle of the Bulge, the 101st Airborne Division was ordered to defend the town of Bastogne, Belgium, with its units arriving in the early morning of December 19, 1944. Baker Company had left Mourmelon for Werbomont, Belgium, with an advance party at 12:15 hrs on December 18, 1944. The initial position of PVT Connor’s Baker Company was in an area between Ile-la-Hesse and Ile-le-Pre, an area that also had the 420th Field Artillery Battalion in position.
It is not known how PVT Merll Connor actually died, but PVT Kenneth Knarr described in a letter to George Koskimaki that their positions were constantly shelled by the Germans. He mentioned that PVT Cunningham of Baker Company was killed in his foxhole by a mortar shell on December 21, 1944, and it might be possible that PVT Connor also died in that way on the same day, but no records have been found yet that give a precise answer to what transpired that day.
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
Source: FindaGrave (c/o David Schram)
PVT Merll C. Connor died at the age of 21 in Belgium on December 21, 1944. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart Medal. Merll was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Grand Failly, France, at Section H, Row 10, Grave 243. In December 1948, he was reburied at the Enid Cemetery, Garfield County, Oklahoma, where he rests eternally.
May he rest in peace.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Merll.
Lest we forget. 🇺🇸
Sources:
Family Search
NARA
The Battered Bastards of Bastogne by George Koskimaki