Richard H. Lightowler
Sergeant Richard H. Lightowler Jr., Serial: 12211922, 347th Infantry Regiment, 87th Infantry Division, U.S. Army. Awards: Purple Heart. He lived at 649 Randolph Street, Camden NJ. Buried at Plot F Row 13 Grave 45, Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Belgium.
Sergeant Richard H. Lightowler Jr. was born and raised in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He had been junior class president and a member of the swim team and school band at Pottstown High School. The Lightowler family moved to Camden three years before his death, and he completed his high school education at Camden High School, graduating in 1943.
After high school he worked briefly for the R.M. Hollingshead Corporation in Camden, whose factory was located not far from the family home at 649 Randolph Street. He entered the Army on August 5, 1943 and was sent to Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY, as part of the Army Specialized Training Program. When the ASTP program ended in early 1944, he was assigned to an infantry unit as a machine gunner. He went overseas on October 24, 1944.
His unit took part in the fighting at the Battle of the Bulge. In a letter dated January 29, he told his parents he had recently been promoted to sergeant and was in a rest camp in Belgium after the Bulge fighting. He was returned to action shortly after that. Sergeant Richard H. Lightowler was killed in action on February 3, 1945, during the West Wall offensive in Germany — when the 87th Division advanced as the northernmost division of General George Patton’s Third Army, driving to breach the German border fortifications.
He was 19 years old. He was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. Lightowler, and a sister, Carolyn, all of the Randolph Street address.
After the war, fellow workers of the R.M. Hollingshead Corporation in Camden raised money and erected a monument remembering their fallen co-workers. That monument now stands in Westmont (Haddon Township), NJ.
Camden Man Killed in War; One Is Missing
Camden Courier-Post
Killed in Germany
Sergeant Lightowler was killed in action in Germany Feb. 3, according to a War Department telegram received recently by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. Lightowler of the Randolph street address.
Sergeant Lightowler graduated from Camden High school in 1943. He entered the service Aug. 5 the same year and took an Army course at Syracuse University. He was sent overseas Oct. 24, last year as a machinegunner in an infantry unit.
His parents received a letter dated Jan. 29 in which he told them he recently was elevated to sergeant and was in a rest camp in Belgium after having been in the Belgium Bulge fighting. He was returned to action shortly after that, his family said, and the notice of his death was received Feb. 22.
The Lightowler family came to Camden three years ago from Pottstown, Pa., where Sergeant Lightowler was born and reared. He attended public schools there and was president of the Junior class in Pottstown High school. During his high school days he was active in athletics, being a member of the Pottstown High swimming team and a member of the school band.
In addition to his parents he is survived by a sister, Carolyn, of the Randolph street address.
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Belgium
Named: Grave of Sergeant Richard H. Lightowler, Plot F Row 13 Grave 45, Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. SGT 347 INF 87 DIV, New Jersey, and Feb 3, 1945..