In Memory of PFC Erwin Henry Blair, KIA, Trained at Camp Maxey, 99th Infantry Division 393rd Infantry Regiment

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.