Leroy Pierce
Staff Sergeant Leroy Pierce, Serial: 32073392, 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division, U.S. Army. Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart. He lived at 536 South 8th Street, Camden NJ. Buried at Bethel Cemetery, Hurffville NJ.
Staff Sergeant Leroy Pierce, 24, of 536 South 8th Street, Camden NJ was killed in Belgium. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer “Ebbie” Pierce were notified he was killed in action on December 24, 1944. They were also informed that he had been recommended for the Bronze Star award for meritorious service.
The citation for the honor said Pierce exposed himself to enemy fire to man a 57 millimeter gun, and although the weapon was without sights, he aimed it through the bore and stopped a German tank attack that would have resulted in serious losses to U.S. troops.
Born in Camden NJ, he grew up and went to school in the Grenloch and Blackwood neighborhoods of Gloucester Township NJ. He attended one year of high school at Haddonfield Memorial High School in Haddonfield NJ. He worked for the A.L. Hyde Co. in Grenloch and as an auto mechanic for Joseph E. Plasket in Blackwood. He had moved to 536 South 8th Street in Camden prior to his induction into the United States Army in May of 1940. He went overseas with the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 4th Armored Division.
Leroy Pierce was brought home in the spring of 1949. He was buried at Bethel Cemetery in Hurffville NJ on May 7, 1949. He is also memorialized on the World War II War memorial in Blackwood NJ, and the Gloucester Township War Memorial. Leroy Pierce was survived by his parents, of 408 Webster Street in Camden, a brother William Pierce, of Camden, and a sister, Mrs. Ella Palmer, also of Camden.
Sgt. Leroy Pierce Rites Saturday
Camden Courier-Post —
Services for S/Sgt. Leroy Pierce will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. in a funeral home on Black Horse pike, north of Church street, Blackwood. Burial will be in Bethel cemetery, Hurffville. Military honors will be conducted by the Blackwood Terrace American Legion post.
Sergeant Pierce was killed in action Dec. 24, 1944, in Belgium, at the age of 24. He was in the 10th Armored Division. He entered the army in May, 1940, and went overseas with an infantry unit.
He was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. The citation said Sergeant Pierce exposed himself to enemy fire to man a 57 millimeter gun and although the weapon was without sights, he fired it and stopped a German tank attack that would have resulted in serious losses to U.S. troops.
Born in Camden, he resided with his parents in Grenloch and attended public schools in Grenloch and Blackwood and the first year of high school at Haddonfield Memorial High. He had been employed by the A.L. Hyde Co., Grenloch, operators of the old Bateman plant, and by Joseph E. Plasket in Blackwood, as automobile mechanic. He was a member of the Lambs Terrace Community Church. He also had resided at 536 South Eighth street, Camden.
Surviving are his mother, Ella; his father, Ebenezer, now of 647 Viola street; a brother, William, Camden, and a sister, Mrs. Ella Palmer, Camden.