Dziedzic

Dziedzic

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<p>Dziedzic’s gravestone marker in SS Peter and Paul Cemetery in Plains Township. Find-A-Grave website</p>

Dziedzic’s gravestone marker in SS Peter and Paul Cemetery in Plains Township. Find-A-Grave website

Like many older teenagers of the time, Edward Dziedzic left Wilkes-Barre Area’s Coughlin High School after completing his junior year to enter the work force. He never returned for his senior year.

As a clerk at Rubels Grocery Store on East Main Street in Miners Mills, Wilkes-Barre, Dziedzic, 19, enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 28, 1943.

More than 13 months later, Dziedzic and 16 other paratroopers and four crew members were killed when their Douglas C-47 crashed over Normandy, France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Less than a week after Dziedzic enlisted, the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Association hosted a “send-off” party for 17 men from Miners Mills who enlisted in the U.S. Armed Services. The party was held at the association’s social hall, North End Civic League, on East Main Street, Miners Mills, on May 3, 1945. Two days later, Dziedzic was sent to basic training at Camp Croft, S.C., and was accepted to attend paratroopers school at Fort Benning, Ga.

“Pvt. Edward Dziedzic, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter (Eva) Dziedzic, 79 Kelly Avenue, stationed at the parachute school, Fort Benning, Ga., recently successfully made his fifth and qualifying parachute jump,” reported the Wilkes-Barre Record Dec. 8, 1943.

When he completed paratroopers school, Pvt. Dziedzic was assigned to Company G, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment of the famed 101st Airborne Division, and deployed to the European Theater leaving the United States on Jan. 29, 1944, arriving 11 days later.

In England, the 101st Airborne Division trained for the eventful D-Day invasion at Normandy although the unit was not informed of this mission until several days before D-Day when they were sequestered in well-guarded marshalling camps, according to fold3.com, a veterans database affiliated with ancestry.com.

“At 2245, June 5, 1944, the 501st took off on a Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft from Merryfield and Welford Airports in England with airborne drops planned for five hours before the first amphibious assaults at Normandy,” according to fold3.com.

Dziedzic was on the C-47 with 16 other paratroopers and four crew members. Their drop zone was north and east of Carentan and were planned to jump at about 1:30 a.m.

“At about 0120 June 6, 1944, the C-47A was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire and crashed near Picauville, France, killing all 21 aboard,” according to fold3.com.

On an exterior wall of a farmhouse near Picauville, a plaque commemorates the airmen and paratroopers killed in the crash at 1:20 a.m.

The Wilkes-Barre Record on June 6, 1944, ran several pages of stories about the invasion, including three-paragraphs announcing Dziedzic was reported missing in action.

“A year to the day that he entered the United States Army Air Corps, Pvt. Edward Dziedzic, paratrooper, was on D-Day, June 6, reported as missing in action. The War Department, in expressing regret at the word of Pvt. Dziedzic’s failing to return, reported he had been in action in France,” the Record reported.

SS Peter and Paul Church in Plains Township held a memorial mass for Dziedzic on July 27, 1944.

Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Association held a memorial service for Dziedzic and 17 other men from Miners Mills killed during World War II on June 3, 1945.

Dziedzic’s remains were returned to his family arriving at the Lehigh Valley Passenger Rail Station in Wilkes-Barre at 2:28 p.m. on April 27, 1948. A funeral mass was held at SS Peter and Paul Church on May 1, 1948, and was buried in the parish cemetery.

Residents of Miners Mills were asked to display the American flag on their front porches on the day of Dziedzic’s burial.

“Military honors were accorded Pfc. Edward Dziedzic, World War II veteran, at funeral services held this morning from the home of his parents, followed by a solemn high mass of requiem in SS Peter and Paul’s Church,” the Evening News reported May 1, 1948.

The 18 servicemen from Miners Mills killed during World War II were honored when the Miners Mills Playground was dedicated Aug. 9, 1950, reported the Evening News.