Edward Kasper

Rank: Private, U.S. Army

Serial Number: 20224119

Unit: Company I, 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: October 27, 1944

Burial: St. Joseph Cemetery, 240 Lower Landing Road, Blackwood (Gloucester Township), NJ

Awards: Purple Heart

Private Edward Kasper was born Edward Kasperowicz to Vincent and Estella Kasperowicz. The family belonged to the traditionally Polish-American St. Joseph Parish of Camden, NJ, although by the time of the war they had moved to 855 Oaklyn Avenue in Runnemede, NJ. He had served in the Civilian Conservation Corps prior to entering the Army. Private Kasper trained as a radio operator. He served with Company I of the 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division.

The 44th Infantry Division landed in France via Cherbourg on September 15, 1944, and trained for a month before entering combat on October 18, 1944, when it relieved the 79th Division in the vicinity of Forêt de Parroy, east of Lunéville, France, to take part in the Seventh Army drive to secure several passes in the Vosges Mountains. Within 6 days, the Division was hit by a heavy German counterattack, on October 25 and 26. The attack was repulsed and the 44th continued its active defense.

Edward Kasper was killed in action in France on October 27, 1944, at the age of 24. His death was reported in the November 27, 1944 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. After the war his body was brought home and buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in Gloucester Township, NJ. Besides his parents, he was survived by his brother Henry and his sister, Mrs. Helen Thurman, all of Runnemede, NJ. Both Henry and Helen had served in the Navy during the war.

Edward Kasper is memorialized on the plaque at St. Joseph Church, 10th & Liberty Street in Camden, NJ, and on the monument at Park Drive & Route 130 in Pennsauken, NJ, as Edward Kasprowicz. He is also memorialized on the Runnemede, NJ, War Memorial as Edward Kasper.