83rd Infantry Division Documents

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Private First Class Albert W Duffer

Name	Albert W Duffer
Rank	Private First Class
Army Serial #	35699524
State	Kentucky
Date of death	1945-01-06
Plot, Row, Grave	E, 7, 50
Cemetery	Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, Google Maps
Unit	1st Plt, I Company, 330th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division
Awards
Remarks	Private First Class Duffer was a member of I Company. The morning report for July 19, 1944 on pages 32 to 34 lists him joining the unit from the 41st Replacement Battalion on July 19, 1944. The morning report for August 27, 1944 on pages 30 and 31 lists his promotion to Private First Class on August 1, 1944. The pages can be seen below. In a letter sent to Dave Dimmick from Art Jacobson (Co. I, 330th) he shares details about Albert Duffer. I quote from this letter with permission of Dave Dimmick: Albert and I were the same age, we were both twenty. He was not married and i am sure he told me about his family, i just cannot remember. He was from Louisville, Kentucky. I do not remember anything about Jan 5, 1945 and only a little about Jan 6, the day I lost Albert. My memory begins with Albert and I walking behind a tank somewhere near or in Fraiture. The ground sloped with the high ground to our right. As we advanced i thought that if there was a sniper on the high ground Albert and I were perfect targets so i moved to the lower side of the tank. As I did I shouted for Albert to join me so we could have the tank between us and the sniper if there was one. He did not join me instead he shouted back, and i quote: "They cannot hit me". These where his last words, it was only a few seconds after he said that he was shot in the neck by a sniper. It seemed to raise him about a foot off the ground and he landed on his back. I believe he was gone before he hit the ground. That was a terrible shock for me, I was looking at him when it happened. We had been together from July 1944 when we joined I Company as replacements. Sometime after joing I Company our platoon was ordered to practice shooting the bazooka at a knocked-out tank several hundred feet away and i was the only one that hit it. That is how I became the bazooka man and Albert was assigned to be my assistant. He carried the ammo and loaded it for me and I fire it. We were the only bazooka team I Company ever had.
Documents	- Morning report July 19, 1944, I Company, 330th IR, page 32 - Morning report July 19, 1944, I Company, 330th IR, page 33 - Morning report July 19, 1944, I Company, 330th IR, page 34 - Morning report August 27, 1944, I Company, 330th IR, page 30 - Morning report August 27, 1944, I Company, 330th IR, page 31

Grave	Soldier

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