Fox Company
On this day 78 years ago: SGT Ben Shaub’s death
Nov
SGT Benjamin Clarence Shaub died of his wounds on November 7, 1944, exactly 78 years ago to this day. He was born on October 11, 1921, in Holtwood, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. According to the 1940 census, SGT Shaub had finished 8th grade. Before entering the service, and becoming a 101st Screaming Eagle, he was employed by the Armstrong Cork Company, which was based in Lancaster.
Featured image: SGT Shaub (Source: Lancaster New Era, Saturday, September 9, 1944).
His service and first combat action
SGT Shaub enlisted on July 25, 1942, in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. He received his training at Camp Blanding, Florida, Camp Wheeler, Georgia, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He made his first combat jump in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. SGT Shaub was awarded a Silver Star Medal because of his participation in wiping out a four-gun German 105mm artillery battery, killing more than ten enemy soldiers on D-Day.
SGT Shaub’s fatal accident
He made his second combat jump in the Netherlands on September 17, 1944. After he was severely wounded on November 1, when he had stepped on a mine buried in front of a Dutch house by the enemy, a medic wrote a letter to his parents on his behalf. “I am severely wounded in the foot, right arm, and right hand, and therefore unable to write myself,” as stated in a newspaper. SGT Ben Shaub died of his wounds on November 7, 1944, at the age of 23. Another 101st Screaming Eagle who had died much too young for our liberation.
A bereaved family
SGT Ben Shaub left behind his parents, Clarence A. and Marian S. Shaub, three brothers, and five sisters. A year after his untimely death, he was remembered by his parents in a small poem.
The nation’s flag is safe today
Because he fought to keep it free;
Our soldier’s life has helped to pay
The bitter cost of victory.
This is a short story of one of Fox Company’s paratroopers, SGT Ben Shaub, 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 SGT Ben Shaub and other brave Fox Company paratroopers, order your copy now!
