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PRIVATE FIRST CLASS HARRY
HARMENING. SAUNDERS JR. was born in Pennsylvania on March 25, 1920, one of
eight
children born to Harry H. and Marie
H. Saunders. The Saunders family moved to New Jersey around 1925. The family owned a
home on
First Avenue, just off of Berlin-Cross Keys Road in the Albion section
of Winslow
Township NJ. The 1930 Census proves that Harry Saunders Sr. was working
as a chauffer, which in those days meant he drove a truck. He later was
employed in a W.P.A. funded job as a laborer with Camden County's
highway department doing bridge maintenance and for a
good period of time was a crew driver for Camden County's highway
department. The 1940 Census shows that Harry Jr. was working as a
laborer at a soap factory.
Known in his family as
brother, Harry H. Sanders Jr. was
inducted into the United States Army, through the draft board at Berlin
on February 22, 1942. He
received training in California, where his fellow soldiers told him he
was safe from harm there on kitchen duty. This, in turn caused Harry to
volunteer for combat duty. He was assigned to the
132nd
Infantry Regiment, a component on the
Americal
Division.
The 132nd Infantry arrived on
Guadalcanal on December 8, 1942, where it engaged in combat in the Guadalcanal campaign,
including fierce fighting to capture Japanese positions in the Battle of Mount
Austen. The Regiment was relieved and sent to Fiji with the rest of the Americal
Division to rest and refit.
The 132nd next fought in the
Bougainville
campaign. It arrived at Cape Torokina on January 9, 1944, and relieved the 3rd
Marine Parachute Battalion, the 3rd Marine Raider Battalion, and units of the 145th
Infantry, which then reverted to the 37th Division. The 132nd Infantry took over that
portion of the perimeter paralleling the Torokina on the extreme right flank and engaged
in patrolling and in strengthening defensive positions. On April 5, 1944, after
establishing patrols along Empress Augusta Bay, the 132nd successfully launched an
attack to capture Mavavia Village. Two days later, while continuing a sweep for enemy
forces, the Regiment encountered prepared enemy defenses, where they destroyed some
twenty Japanese pillboxes using pole charges and bazookas. Later, the 132nd secured the
heights west of Saua River in fierce fighting that lasted until April 18, when the last
of the Japanese defenders were killed or driven off.
American forces continued to fight on Bougainville until November, when
relieved by Australian units.
Private First
Class Harry H. Saunders
Jr. was killed in action on July 14, 1944 when he stepped on a landmine
during an attack on a pillbox on Bougainville. After the war, his body was
brought home, and he was buried at Berlin Cemetery in Berlin NJ. His remains
(his Mother always insisted, it was not his remains in the box) are buried at Berlin
Cemetery in Berlin NJ.
Apparently
a mistake was made when preparing his tombstone, as the 34th Infantry
Division was never in the South Pacific.
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