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Contact Info
Home Town Detroit
Last Address Hemet, CA
Date of Passing Sep 04, 2011
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Duke Ashton was born on February 14, 1923, in Detroit, Michigan. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 2, 1943, at Fort Custer, Michigan, and after completing basic training and infantry training, he served with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 71st Infantry Regiment of the 44th Infantry Division during combat training in the United States before deploying to France with his unit in September 1944.
PFC Ashton fought with his unit through France and Germany, and was wounded in action in France on December 13, 1944, and on February 15, 1945; and in Germany on March 29, 1945. After the war ended he served on Occupation Duty in Germany until returning to the United States in July 1945, and he received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army on October 17, 1945. Duke Ashton died on September 4, 2011, and his ashes were placed in the columbarium wall at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Northern France Campaign (1944)
From Month/Year
July / 1944
To Month/Year
September / 1944
Description (Northern France Campaign 25 July to 14 September 1944) Bombardment along a five-mile stretch of the German line enabled the Allies to break through on 25 July. While some armored forces drove southward into Brittany, others fanned out to the east and, overcoming a desperate counterattack, executed a pincers movement that trapped many Germans in a pocket at Falaise. The enemy fell back on the Siegfried Line, and by mid-September 1944 nearly all of France had been liberated. During these operations in France, while light and medium bombers and fighter-bomber aircraft of Ninth Air Force had been engaged in close support and interdictory operations, Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces had continued their strategic bombing.