Fox Company
On This Day 103 Years Ago: TEC 5 Joseph Senger’s Birthday
Nov
Joseph Senger was born in Strasburg, North Dakota, on November 13, 1919, 103 years ago to this day. At the time, his father Mathias “Matthew” Senger was 19 and his mother, Martha (Kraft) Senger was 20. Around 1930, Joseph Senger lived in Cannon Ball Township, Hettinger, and around 1935 in Linton, Emmons, North Dakota. He would later move to Oakland, California, where he was employed as a waiter at Duchess Sandwich Co.
Featured image: TEC 5 Joseph Senger, a husky 101st Screaming Eagle, who sacrificed himself for our liberation (Source: Oakland Tribune, Wednesday, October 18, 1944).
Joseph Senger’s service
TEC 5 Joseph Senger enlisted for the service at Monterey, California, on January 5, 1942, and became a 101st Screaming Eagle. He was one of the original paratroopers of Fox Company, 502nd PIR, who was also present at the Thanksgiving Dinner at Fort Bragg in November 1942. TEC 5 Senger would become the company clerk of F/502.
A ruined future
TEC 5 Joseph Senger would make his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day. Four days before he jumped into the Netherlands, he wrote a message to his parents. It was a letter filled with his plans for the future, showing the enthusiasm of a husky 24-year-old soldier who knew what he wanted to do when the war was over. One day before the letter arrived home another message arrived, a telegram from the War Department, announcing his death in action in the Netherlands on September 18, 1944.
A posthumously awarded Bronze Star Medal
Joseph Senger died at the age of 24. He left behind his parents and a sister, named Sabina. TEC 5 Joseph Senger was posthumously bestowed with a Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart Medal. His father, Mathias Senger, received the Bronze Star Medal on Sunday, July 8, 1945, when the medal was presented to him by Brigadier-general William H. Wilbur in a ceremony at the Presidio of San Francisco.
Burial location
TEC 5 Joseph Senger was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery Wolfswinkel (Son), the Netherlands, Block B, Row 8, Grave 147, after which he was reburied at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, Margraten at Eijsden-Margraten, the Netherlands, in Block L, Row 14, Grave 18. TEC 5 Senger, a 101st Screaming Eagle who was killed in action for our freedom.
This is a short story about one of Fox Company’s paratroopers, TEC 5 Joseph Senger, as described in the book: From the Frying Pan to Mittersill, Fox Company, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (1942 – 1945). If you are interested in learning more about TEC 5 Joseph Senger and other brave Fox Company paratroopers, order your copy now!
