Joseph Pinto
Rank: Private First Class, U.S. Army
Serial: 32958508
Unit: 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division
Entered service from: New Jersey
Died:
Burial: Plot A, Row 29, Grave 1 — Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France
Awards: Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
Biography
Private First Class Joseph J. Pinto was born May 6, 1913. He had lived in Camden, NJ with his wife Etta at 525 Berkeley Street. Inducted into the United States Army, he was assigned to the 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, and was assigned to the same platoon as his brother-in-law, Bert.
January of 1945 found the 3rd Infantry Division in defensive positions covering a sector 20 miles wide on the perimeter of the Colmar Pocket, south of the strategic city of Strasbourg. Snowshoes, skis, white snow suits, Goum mule teams—everything suitable for winter warfare—made its debut. Some sectors were so thinly held, a foot patrol required three hours to go from one platoon to another.
Private Joseph Pinto and his brother-in-law Bert were both wounded on the night of January 17, 1945. They were in separate foxholes. Before litter bearers could make their way to them so they could be evacuated, Bert could hear his brother-in-law through the night, then heard him no more. Private Pinto died of his wounds that night.