Name: Marcus L Vinyard
First Name(s): Marcus L
Last Name: Vinyard
Place of birth: Alabama,
Rank: Pvt
ASN: 34814379
Company: A
Unit: 41st Tank Bn 11th AD
Reported as: KIA
Date of incident: 02-01-1945
Place of incident: Mande-Saint-Étienne
His story: On January 2, 1945, at four o’clock, A Company moved in toward the town Mande-Saint-Étienne, Belgium with a wave of infantry to their front. Suddenly, the ground around them seemed to explode. The air was full of flying dirt and shrapnel from bursting mortar, nebelwerfer and artillery shells. Sgt Kejr’s and Lt Simkin’s tanks were hit and the remaining tanks were forced to withdraw to the protection of the woods.
Lt Simkin, in addition to being wounded, had been run over by his tank. When the tank was abandoned, the driver had remained inside and proceeded to back the K tank to cover. Simkin’s legs were crushed in this unfortunate accident. Lt Scott placed him on the rear deck of his tank and took him immediately to the medics. Sgt Kejr, Cpls Hicks and Smoot, Tec 5 Brown and Pvt Willie Wilson were also evacuated. Pvt Vinyard was killed by a shell falling on the hatch of the tank he was in.
note: in the history of A Company 41st Tank Battalion, the name of Pvt Marcus L Vinyard is mentioned
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