Blinco Lawrence 1919

Lawrence Blinco [1090]
1919-19n99

Father Nm: Thomas William Blinco [] born 8.5.1887 Martins Ferry, died 25.2.1947 Martins Ferry

Father left and Grandtather Thomas William Blinco 1848

Mother Nm: Bertha May Prest 1891-1967

Mother

Marriage Dt: 14 June 1944 • Birmingham, Warwickshire, United Kingdom

K comments: Uncle Howard Washington served with the 334th and 140th Infantry. Uncle Robert ( just off this chart) served with 146th Infantry.

WW2: Brothers Thomas Jnr served in the US Navy and Charles served for less than a year with the Army in 1942

Spouse comments: Olive Betty Freer 1925–1999 BIRTH 7 AUG 1925 • Birmingham, United Kingdom DEATH 6 FEBRUARY 1999 • Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, United States of America

Children. Lawrence Blinco (Larry)^ [10428]^ born 13.12.1946  died 12.1.2010 Wheeling West Virginia, Robert Lee [10398] born 18.12.1959 Weirton WV m Christina Marie O’Bradovich [10374] born 24.1.1964 Steubenville Oh  m 7.1.1984 Clairsville Oh  living in Wheeling WV

Born 1919

26 September 1919 Martins Ferry

1930 CENSUS

Martins Ferry Ohio

Name Age
Thomas Blincoe 42 Bertha Blincoe 37 William Blincoe 23 Albert Blincoe 18 Charles Blincoe 14 Lawrence Blincoe 10 Thomas Blincoe 4

Lawrence before the war in sort of Corps work
WW2

335th Infantry

84th Division ‘Railsplitters’

Blinco Lawrence, Private, 35004018, 335th Infantry, 84 Division, US Army

1940

  • 26 October. Registered for the draft.

1941

  • 5 March. Lawrence enlisted in the Army. It seems that after training he was posted to 335th Infantry at Camp Howze in Texas.

    Troops building bridges at Camp Howze in Texas in 1942
1942-43

  • Lawrence it seems was sent to England probably with the 335th Infantry ahead of the main contingent of the 84th Division, his son Bob recalls “I believe one of his jobs was warehouse and supply. He also transported higher up and infantry” This explanation makes sense of his being part of a forward operation. We guess he was there sometime in 1943 because he met Olive Freer and in mid-1944 they married.

1944

14 June. Married to Olive Betty Freer in Birmingham.

 

  • 20 September. The 84th Div. (Railsplitters) embarked for Europe arriving in England on 1st October for further training.
  • The 84th Division was moved about quite a bit before it was assigned to XIX Corps, Ninth Army, and 12th Army Group. for its moved to Normandy.
  • 1-4 November. The 84th division landed on Omaha Beach and moved to the vicinity of Gulpen, the Netherlands by 5–12 November.
  • Assignments for the rest of 1944 were
    • 8 November 1944: XIII Corps.

11 November 1944: Ninth Army, 12th Army Group, but attached for operations to the British XXX Corps, British Second Army, British 21st Army Group. Note in this period Lawrences 335th Infantry were with the 30Infantry Division and didn’t take part in the first combat at Geilenkirchen. In late November they rejoined the 84th Div.
23 November 1944: XIII Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group.
29 November. Before dawn Nov. 29, the 335th attacked Lindern, part of the Siegfried’s formidable Wurm-Beeck- Leiffarth-Lindern triangle. Enemy infantry resistance, backed by pillboxes and tanks, was fanatic.
Lt. Creswell Garlington, Jr., Rollo, Mo., his platoon held up by machine-gun fire, crawled 300 yards to knock out two guns with hand grenades. Lt. (then Pfc) Michael Citrak, Endicott, N.Y., silenced two others.
Sgt. (then Pvt.) Robert L. Nordli, Milford, Ia., saw six Germans running from a pillbox. One shell from his bazooka dropped them.
Two Co. K platoons, with Lt. Garlington’s unit, Co. I. fought into Lindern at daybreak. They held the town against fire from all sides until help arrived. Beeck was easier. Railsplitter artillery poured such a heavy barrage into the village that harassed Germans withdrew that afternoon. Two 333rd Inf. companies and two troops of the 113th Cav. Group, attached to the division, entered the town that night.3

The 84ths As Love Company, the battalion follow-on echelon, tried to move forward to clear Lindern it was pinned down by heavy fire short of the line of the antitank ditch and forced to dig in.
Location of Lindern in Germany

20 December 1944: Ninth Army, 12th Army Group, but attached to the XVIII (Abn) Corps of First Army, itself attached to the British 21st Army Group.
20 December 1944: VII Corps. The German army then completed a counter-attack through the Ardennes into Belgium and the 84th was re-assigned to help fight back this offensive, Third Bn., 335th, was to hold Rochefort and set up roadblocks at Tellin, Grupont, Massigny and Harsin. First Bn., 333rd, shifted to Wanlin, Beauraing and Wellin. Companies and platoons often operated independently during this confusing situation. Co. L, 335th, was cut off between Marloie and Rochefort. Co. K, led by Lt. Leonard R. Carpenter, Fall River, Mass., fought its way out of a trap near Grupont, then joined Co. I in the defence of Rochefort which was under attack by enemy tanks and infantry. Fighting raged for 18 hours, with the Germans losing six to eight tanks. Later, hard-charging Railsplitters smashed into Marloie and relieved Co. L, which had lost all its officers when Germans scored direct hits on the CP.3

The 84th Div battle locations for December 1944

The crushing battles near Verdenne and Menil had been enough for the Germans. As early as Dec. 27, prisoners admitted that the 116th Panzer Div., which had been one of the units facing Railsplitters, no longer existed as a fighting force. Germans again were on the defensive.3

  • 22 December 1944: VII Corps, First Army (attached to British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group.
1945

March. The 84th crossed the Roer and entered the heart of Germany

Ninth Army Operations in the Rhineland

  • After cleaning up Krefeld, the 335th took Moers and swept on to the Rhine Co. E was the first division unit to reach the river bank.3

    335th Infantry men at Krefeld
1946
  • 17 January. Discharged

 

Medals
Sources
    1. Find My Past  and BFA database
After the War
Death 1999
  • 12 JANUARY 1999 • Martins Ferry, Belmont County, Ohio
Gallery
From son Bob Blinco “My Mother, Olive Freer, and my Father, Lawrence Blinco on their wedding day near Sutton Coldfield, England on June 14, 1944. My Mother as you can see was a war bride and almost all in the photo is her side of the family. My Father, who was from Martins Ferry, Ohio, soon returned to battle as the Allies marched to Germany. Both, sadly, have passed but we remain in regular contact with our English family.”
Lawrence with younger brother Thomas