PFC Erwin Henry Blair
Erwin Henry Blair served in the 393rd Infantry
Regiment of the 99th Infantry Division, attaining the rank of Private 1st
Class. His serial number was 37550195. The following account of Erwin’s
division is taken from the Army Ground Forces Fact Sheet of the 99th Infantry Division of
1947, supplemented by the Wikipedia article U.S. 99th
Infantry Division (August 3, 2005 version) and the eyewitness account
of John Rarick in the 99th
Infantry Division Association Checkerboard.
The 99th Division was activated November 15, 1942 at Camp Dorn,
Mississippi, under the command of Major General Thompson Lawrence, and was
assigned to the IV Corps. While at Camp Dorn it came successively under the XV,
VII and IX Corps of the Third Army. Command was transferred from Lawrence to
Major General Walter E. Lauer in July, 1943. In September, October and November
1943, the 99th took part in the Third Army maneuvers in Louisiana. Following
these maneuvers, the division was transferred to Camp Maxey, Texas and came
under the X Corps of the Third Army.
The Division departed the U.S. for foreign duty September 30, 1944,
arriving in England on October 10, where it trained briefly before being moved
to Le Havre, France on November 3. It then proceeded to Aubel, Belgium, to
prepare for combat.
The 99th was put into the line near Bütgenbach in the province of
Liège. There it first saw action against the Germans on November 9. On November
16 it relieved the 9th Infantry Division and 102nd Cavalry Group in the
vicinity of Aubel and on the 18th proceeded to an area near Wirtzfeld where its
first big artillery duel with the enemy ensued. In December it aided in the
defense of the V Corps sector north of the Roer River between Schmidt and
Monschau. In Mid-December a drive was launched to the northeast as the 99th
began probing the Siegfried Line against heavy resistance on December 13.
The Germans’ Ardennes Offensive, the initial phase of the Battle
of the Bulge, caught the Division on the 16th. Although cut up and surrounded
in part, the 99th held as a whole until reinforcements came.
Erwin did not survive the action, dying December 17, 1944, aged
21, near Liège, Belgium. His death is recorded by John Rarick, a fellow member
of the Division taken prisoner of war: “After traveling about 200 yards we came
to the command post where Lt. Harry Nowlin and Sgt. Gilliam of the 3rd squad
were dug in or built up. They were all alive but captured. Their only casualty
was my close friend, Erwin 'Buddy' Blair of Wadena MN.
“Blair, also a BAR man, had been ordered by Lt. Nowlin to
surrender but refused and continued firing. The Germans had leveled his
position with potato mashers or hand grenades, killing Blair and seriously
wounding his assistant . . . Tish Hebert.”
Erwin’s body was later buried in Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery
and Memorial, two miles northwest of the village of Henry-Chapelle, Belgium,
between Liège and Aachen, Germany.
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