Adam M. Pszwaro

Rank: Technician Fifth Class, U.S. Army

Serial Number: 32242233

Unit: Medical Detachment, 2nd Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: September 19, 1944

Burial: St. Joseph Cemetery, 240 South Chews Landing Road, Gloucester Township, NJ

Awards: Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

Technician Fifth Class Adam M. Pszwaro was born in 1914 to Louis and Catherine Pszwaro. He was a member of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church at 10th & Mechanic Street in Camden, NJ. His teen years were spent in Gloucester County, NJ. He was a graduate of Paulsboro High School, where he played football and baseball. Prior to his induction into the United States Army, he worked in the research lab at the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company in Paulsboro and attended night school classes at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he majored in chemistry. His last stateside address was 189 Market Street in Gibbsboro, NJ.

Trained as a medic, he was assigned to the medical detachment of the 2nd Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division. He went overseas in 1942 with this unit, first to a training base in Ireland.

After continuing its training in Ireland, the 34th Infantry Division saw its first combat in the North African invasion, November 8, 1942, landing at Algiers and seizing the port and outlying airfields. Elements of the Division took part in numerous subsequent engagements in Tunisia during the Allied build-up, notably at Sened Station, Paid Pass, Sbeitla, and Fondouk Gap. In April 1943 the Division assaulted Hill 609, capturing it on May 1, 1943, and then drove through Chouigui Pass to Tebourba and Ferryville. The Division then trained for the Salerno landing. The 151st FA Bn. went in on D-day, September 9, 1943, at Salerno, while the rest of the Division followed on September 25. Contacting the enemy at the Calore River, September 28, 1943, the 34th drove north to take Benevento, crossed the winding Volturno three times in October and November, assaulted Mount Patano and took one of its four peaks before being relieved, December 9, 1943. In January 1944, the Division drove into the Gustav line, took Mount Trocchio after a bitter fight, pushed across the Rapido, attacked Monastery Hill, and fought its way into Cassino, being relieved February 13, 1944. After rest and rehabilitation, it landed in the Anzio beachhead, March 25, 1944, maintaining defensive positions until the offensive of 23 May, when it broke out of the beachhead, took Cisterna, and raced to Civitavecchia and Rome. Adam Pszwaro was wounded during the fighting at Anzio. After a short rest, the Division drove across the Cecina River to liberate Livorno, July 19, 1944, then moved north in the direction of Mount Belmonte.

Technician Fifth Class Adam M. Pszwaro was killed in action on September 19, 1944, during the two-week long battle for control of Hill 810, a key point in the Gothic Line fortifications that the German army had constructed to defend northern Italy. His death was reported in the October 11, 1944 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. After the war, his body was returned to New Jersey, and he rests with other members of the military who were members of St. Joseph’s Church at St. Joseph Cemetery in Gloucester Township, NJ. He was survived by his mother, brothers First Lieutenant Frank, Technical Sergeant Oscar, and Edward, and sisters Helen and Ensign Elizabeth Pszwaro, a Navy nurse.