Warren W. Becker was born on 8 August 1923, and was from Chicago, Illinois.  Not much is known about him. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on 28 November 1942 in Chigaco and volunteered for the paratroopers. After training at Fort Benning, he was assigned to I Company, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.

He participated in Operation Market Garden, the airborne landings in The Netherlands, which aimed to capture the bridges over the Waal and Rhine rivers. This would open up the possibility of thrusting north over the Rhine and then into Germany, bypassing the feared Siegfried line.

 

Company I

508th Parachute Infantry Regiment

82nd Airborne Division
 

After the landings and conquering the bridge, British troops would come from the Belgian/Dutch border and thrust north, over the bridges captured by the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions towards Arnhem, where the British 1st Airborne Division was tasked with the capture of the bridge over the Rhine.

Warren was wounded in action on 22 September 1944, in the Ooypolder near Erlecom. He died of his wounds on the 27th of September. He was initially buried in the Temporary American War Cemetery at Molenhoek, Holland. The circumstances of his death are not known. His remains were later repatriated to Eden Cemetery in Schiller Park, IL.

(Photo courtesy of Tom Lane)

Eden Cemetery, Schiller Park, Illinois

See also:

All Casualties of the 508th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division killed in Holland or buried at Margraten

Acknowledgements:
Mr. Tom Lane (purpleheart.net)
ROLL OF HONOR 82nd AIRBORNE DIVISION WORLD WAR TWO, Liberation Museum Groesbeek
NARA AAD
Norbert de Groot, Als Sterren Aan De Hemel, De Gooise Uitgeverij, Weesp 1977

Directions to Eden Cemetery, Schiller Park, Illinois

Posted 7 January 2009

If you have any suggestions, comments or additional information, please contact me.

This website is dedicated to the men and women who died and/or are buried in The Netherlands during World War II.

 

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