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Capt. Drennan served with Company E, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He died of wounds received near the town of Best, North Brabant, Netherlands. during Operation Market Garden..
He was interred in Pleasant Prairie Cemetery, Bethel, Missouri. He left a wife whom he married in Alabama in 1942.
Captain Fred O. Drennan
Unit: Company E, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
Place and date: Best, 18 September 1944
Captain Fred O. Drennan, Parachute Infantry, fawarded the DSC for extraordinary heroism in action at Best, the Netherlands on 18 September 1944.
While leading his unit in an attack against very heavy enemy resistance, Captain Drennan, although severely wounded, refused to be evacuated and continued to lead the attack displaying superior skill and determination. While under intense enemy machine gun fire, Captain Drennan located an 88mm gun in a woods and after emplacing a 60mm mortar directed its fire so accurately that the entire enemy gun crew was destroyed. Then, with utter disregard for his personal safety, he advanced fearlessly over an open field and though armed only with a rifle annihilated an enemy machine gun crew that had been firing on his mortar position.
Later, while continuing the attack he was mortally wounded. Captain Drennan's great personal courage, gallant leadership and devotion to duty so inspired his men that they continued with grimmer determination to carry their ultimate objective.
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