134th Infantry Regiment Website
"All Hell Can't Stop Us"
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134th Infantry Regiment Website"All Hell Can't Stop Us" |
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Elvin Phillips Jr, son of Columbus Elvin and Elizabeth May (Riggs) Phillips, was born April 8, 1913 in Harvey, Iowa. He registered for the draft October 16, 1940. At the time he was living in Des Moines, Iowa and working at the Rollins Hosiery Mill. He was inducted into the Army November 22, 1942 and served in Company B, 60th Engineer Combat Battalion. The night of October 10, 1944, the 60th Engineer Combat Battalion was laying down a mine field near Ajoncourt, about 18 miles northeast of Nancy, France. Trucks carrying the mines were parked along the river just south of town. At about 11 PM that night one of the trucks exploded, causing another truck and nearby stacks of mines and other ammunition to also explode. Pvt Elvin Phillips, Jr was one of 33 men killed in that explosion. He is buried at Bellefountaine Cemetery, Scott Township, Iowa.
Read more about the 60th Engineers Ajoncourt mine explosion disaster.