Edward E. DeVoe

Rank: Private First Class, U.S. Army

Serial: 12010617

Unit: 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: January 5, 1945

Buried at: Harleigh Cemetery, Haddon Avenue, Camden, New Jersey

Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart

Private First Class Edward Earle DeVoe was born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 17, 1919, to Edward Vincent DeVoe and his wife Leta DeVoe. By April of 1930 the family, which included his older sister Helen Julia DeVoe, had moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents appear to have separated during the 1930s. Edward E. DeVoe was working on a farm in Ambler, Pennsylvania in October of 1940 when he registered for the draft. He enlisted thereafter and was assigned to the 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion.

The 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion was an independent airborne formation of the United States Army formed on July 1, 1941, at Fort Kobbe, Panama Canal Zone. Originally formed as an air landing unit, its mission was to land in Central, Latin, and South American countries as well as areas in the Caribbean. As threats to those regions subsided in 1943, the 550th was redesignated the 550th Glider Infantry Battalion and undertook glider training. The unit was assigned to the 1st Airborne Task Force and participated in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France, on August 15, 1944, where the 550th captured the town of Le Muy.

The 550th Airborne was sent to Aldbourne, England in November 1944 after the 1st Airborne Task Force was disbanded. During the Battle of the Bulge in late December 1944, the 550th was attached to the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment, part of the 17th Airborne Division. On the morning of January 4, 1945, the men of the 550th entered the fighting of the Battle of the Bulge as they made their way to the small town of Renuamont, located about ten miles west of Bastogne. That evening a vicious German counterattack led to the destruction or capture of most of B and C Companies. Private First Class DeVoe, awardee of the Bronze Star Medal, died of wounds received in action on January 5, 1945. In February 1945 the 550th Airborne Battalion was consolidated into the 3rd Battalion of the 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment.

Private First Class DeVoe was survived by his father, of Philadelphia, and his sister, Mrs. Helen Julia Morgan, of 356 Nicholson Road, Audubon, New Jersey.