Eli E. Plumley Jr.

Rank: Private, U.S. Army

Serial: 12211888

Unit: 347th Infantry Regiment, 87th Infantry Division

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: December 19, 1944

Awards: Purple Heart

Buried: Lorraine American Cemetery, Plot C, Row 19, Grave 7, Saint-Avold, France

Also memorialized at: Locustwood Burial Park, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Private Eli Earl Plumley Jr. was born in 1925 to Eli Earl and Helen Plumley. He grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey, where the family lived at 330 Homestead Avenue. His father was an executive with the Union Central Life Insurance Company at 708 Market Street in Camden, New Jersey, and was a veteran of World War I.

On December 13, 1942, Eli Earl Plumley Sr. and Jr. went to the family’s summer cottage in Erial, New Jersey, to chop firewood. The elder Plumley, then 47 years old, suffered a fatal heart attack. Eli Earl Plumley Jr., known as Topper to his friends, completed his studies at Haddonfield Memorial High School, graduating in 1943. While at Haddonfield High he was a member of the backfield of the school football team. The family moved to 432 Maple Avenue in Collingswood, New Jersey, after the death of the elder Plumley.

Eli Earl Plumley Jr. joined the Army right after graduation from Haddonfield High, in June of 1943. He trained with the 347th Infantry Regiment, 87th Infantry Division, and went overseas in October of 1944. The 87th went into combat on December 8th taking Fort Driant. Private Plumley was seriously wounded shortly after the division went into combat, and died of his wounds on December 19, 1944.