Anyone know more about JOHN SEEMAN, US 148th Engineers?

Passing this message

Hi Fred.congrats on a fantastic site , Fred i would like to share a story with you , but before i start , i would like you to know that i am 57 years old and i am in good health with no mental problems etc etc thank god , ok here is the story and it is 100% genuine and true
i was in bed on sat 06/10/18 and i was drifting off to sleep , as i was drifting off to sleep i got an image like a dream , or a picture , it was of 3 to four american soldiers standing having coffee and smoking , it was on a battlefield or an outpost as there was a lot of movement going on , next thing there was a flash , as if an incoming shell had exploded , then i woke up , as soon as i awoke , i heard in my head a voice saying MY NAME IS JOHN SEEMAN I WAS KILLED IN NORMANDY IN 1944
ok i said to myself this is strange very strange as for one i do not dream it is years since i had a dream , anyway i got out of bed and turned on the computer
and to my SHOCK i found johns details , he was killed on 27/7/1944 in Normandy , he was a Major at 26 years of age and also an only child
it is a really sad sad story. i checked as many records as i could , his mother and father have passed away and there are no relatives to contact .
now i told the story to a close friend , and he said to me , it is a soul looking for a prayer , so i have got a Mass said for john at the Ho;y Shrine here in Knock
i am located 20 km from Knock in the Rep of Ireland
Fred there is no family connection to john , my father and uncle served in the RAF and Merchant NavY during WW11
Fred i was wondering if you could find out anything about john as i have tried on the internet and all i can find out is that he was born in Shanghai to American parents then moved to California thats where he signed up , he was a store manager , before joing the army , his unit was the 148th Engineers
Fred if it is possible to find out HOW and Where john was killed i would be very grateful , in fact any info at all would be fantastic
i am thinking and thinking about this daily , and i am also going to visit his grave and lay some flowers
we owe so much to them
ok fred as i said before congratulations on a great site ,
looking forward to hearing from you

 

Already received this answer:

Frank John Seeman Jr
1918–1944
BIRTH ABT 1918 • Shanghai, China
DEATH 27 JUL 1944 • Unknown Buried in Normandy, France

From an Ancestry family tree

Perhaps you need him to contact the sister site across the pond - WWII Forums they may be able to hustle up more details

World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas
NameJohn F Seeman
Inducted FromCalifornia
RankMajor
Combat Organization148th Engineers
Combat BattalionDeath DateJul 27 1944
MonumentNormandy, France
Last Known StatusBuried
U.S. Awards
Purple Heart Medal
Silver Star Medal

U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949
NameJohn F Seeman
GenderMale
RankMAJ
Residence PlaceCalifornia
Death Date27 Jul 1944
CemeteryNormandy
Burial PlaceSt Laurent, France (Note its the one in Normandy on the Omaha Beach - its a common name in France)
Next of KinMr Frank J Seema

 

Per ABMC website: Plot D Row 21 Grave 13

Draft (or Selective Service) Registration Card:

 

Great Thanks!

 

Dear Sir,
My father was a member of the 148th Combat Engineers. Late in life he told me that his Captain saved many solders lives when the Captain stepped on a land mine and ordered all the trailing men to clear as quickly as possible. His Captain took the full hit, was killed but saved the life of my father and other men. He told me this took place in Normandy. To his regret he could not remember the Captain's name. He thought it was the same name of a store in Queens, NY. For many years there was a Seaman's furniture store. Also, the dates do not match. My father was wounded outside St. Lo, Normandy on July 22, 1944 in heavy artillery bombardment and Major Seeman was killed on July 27, 1944. My father passed in 2009. During his life he returned to Normandy and St Lo and visited the American Cemetery to pay his respects to the members of the 148th. He also visited the Shrine at Knock, Ireland. I too will remember Major Seeman in my prayers and hope to visit his grave someday.

 

Sorry for the delay. I was away for 10 days. I will pass this message. Thanks!!

 

Sirs,

The Major John F Seeman, my family knew, was a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines in 1942, with and Engineer of Mines Processional Degree. He was a very good friend of my Uncle, Frank E. Kendrick III and Jack Roberts, both of Leadville Colorado, who were also 1942 graduates of CSM with Mining Engineering Degrees, as well. Jack was killed flying the hump in India and Frank was UDT leader who passed in February of 1944. All belonged to the SAE fraternity and were very good friends. My aunt, who was married to Frank, recounts many fond memories of John Seeman to this day. She is about to turn 100. In the mid 1950's my Dad (Robert Kendrick) was a shift boss underground at the Climax Mine in Colorado and heard some men on his crew describing the best officer they had ever known and they told this same story cited below, along with other positive antidotes about John Seeman. I hope this helps, Kind regards, Mike Kendrick
Here is the Silver Star commendation for John Seeman:

 

Thank you so Much for this , it is very very strange . as in my dream i knew it was an explosion , but know i know the facts
i am truly overwhelmed
Thank you again for the information
what a hero john was { like so many } and so young
i will do my best to visit his Grave in Normandy in 2020

many many thanks to all who gave me the time and info on this

Charles

 

Just a long shot Mike
would your Aunt have a photo of John ?

best regards Charles

 

UPDATE . 22/11/2019 00.05 AM

After seeing Mikes reply , i had a search around , and i came up with the idea of contacting the Colorado school of mines
as i was about to mail them i noticed they has a library THE ARTHUR LAKES LIBRARY
Which just happened to have a chat box for help
so i joined the chat and got speaking to a wonderful guy called Joe Knaus
i told joe the story and attached a link of this site for him to have a read
and Amazingly he searched the records in the library and was able to find a photo of john
so hats off to him , attached is a pic of John .
i will now send this pic to the site with his memorial so they can add a photo to the profile
many many thanks to all who have helped me along this journey

best regards
Charles

 

Major John Frank Seeman

 

The Story Behind Major John F. Seeman, 148th Combat Engineer Battalion

I know the story of Major Seeman, but I did not know how to verify it when I first saw it yesterday until I saw the posting of his Silver Star commendation -- thank you for posting that! I also did not know the approximate location of his death in France -- and my father's story below varies from the commendation in that the commendation lists Major Seeman as tripping the mine, not another soldier. I will let the readers here draw their own conclusions about the variation in the official account and what Capt. Thompson of the 148th CEB told his daughter years after the war's end. This is how I (his daughter, Debbie Thompson Yarrow) ) know.

My late father was Captain Richard B. Thompson, also, as I noted, of the 148th Engineer Combat Battalion. He passed away over 50 years ago. Before his death, he recounted his experiences in the 148th on numerous occasions, and he told me the story of the influence and bravery of this Major, "his" Major, "Who taught me what it meant to be a soldier ... and all about bravery," he said. "The summer of 1944 was miserably wet and hot, hell on earth, as the 148th fought their way across France after surviving D-Day in what came to be called The Battle of the Hedgerows. My men were moving so fast the food trucks and equipment to keep everyone fed and clean could not keep up with us. We were not only attacked by Germans. The Americans were trying to carpet bomb the Germans to prepare our way, but all too often soldiers died from the air strikes in friendly fire, unintentional of course but just as deadly. Ultimately, I created a washing machine out of a bombed-out Army jeep and an old oil drum, just so the men could get their clothes washed ... because they smelled that bad, not their fault. Engineers have to dream up stuff like that to solve logistics problems.

"One day we were heading through an area that was mined. Some of the mines were set with tripwires. Believe me, we were proceeding with extreme caution, watching every step as carefully as we could. Sometimes even the best of eyes, when men are tired or hot, sweat running down their faces ... soldiers make mistakes. They do not see everything they should. But if a man walks across and pulls a tripwire, you are supposed to be able to hear it as something whizzes through the air. When an engineer trains on what he is supposed to do prior to going out in a minefield, everyone gets the same drill. 'If someone pulls a tripwire, you are supposed to throw your body on the mine as it flies through the air.' The mine is going to blow up, period. But if one man does that, he can deflect the impact of the flying explosion. Instead of a dozen men or more dying, that one man is hit. And here is what happened.

"A young man was searching for mines up at the front of our group of engineers. He made a mistake. But he did not see and tripped a mine. And though that soldier did not realize this, or did not react, our Major, right behind him, did. The Major saw it fly, or heard its sound in the air, and responded exactly as we all had been trained. He threw himself over the mine when it was airborne, and it exploded underneath him, which saved my life and no telling how many other men's lives in the 148th. This Major was the epitome of bravery, the quintessential soldier. Both of his legs were blown off below his hips. There was nothing we could do to save his life. He bled out before any medic's help could save him."

I was so astonished as a young girl hearing that story, seeing tears well up in my stoic father's eyes, that I asked him to tell it to me again and again as the years went by. It is the only story of war death he ever relayed to me in detail. That story's impact on me may have been the reason why he never told me about the men of the 148th coming across the Malmady Massacre later the following winter. He never told me about the 148th coming across P.O.W. camps or Holocaust victims, as I learned they saw many years later, after my father had passed away. I felt I fought beside him during D-Day at Utah Beach and the snowy winter of the Battle of the Bulge, but that was my one image of an American soldier's bravery, the one who saved my father's life, allowed him to go to law school, allowed me to be born, hear his war stories, and now finally this day, share what happened to "his" major with others.

I suppose I am not surprised this man made a ghostly visit to someone else to be remembered nearly 75 years after his death. John Seeman gave up his life for his country, for his fellow soldiers' lives, and to make this world free of the horrors of anarchy. My father, also the quintessential soldier, went on to build the first Bailey Bridge across the Rhine (Hodge's Bridge) -- with the men of the 148th of course and under the direction of General Patton -- to allow American soldiers to enter Germany and help end this terrible war. Not alone of course, but as the Captain overseeing other brave soldiers during bridge construction. They were among the first soldiers targeted by the German Army to be attacked by the supersonic V-2 rocket ... the first soldiers in history that is, to be targeted and shot at from guided missiles, and for their bravery at Hodges' Bridge, the 148th ECB was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. None of this might have happened as it did without the sacrifice of Major John Seeman, the name on his grave marker in France. But when I looked up his life details at Ancestry.com one reason I see that may have made him more difficult to trace is that he was born Frank Johnson Seeman, Jr., after his father, a name he shortened to John, probably to be different and stand out from his Dad. Both his parents, I learned from documents posted at Ancestry.com, were teachers/educators, which is why the Major was born in China, where his mother had been teaching before Mr. Seeman (Sr.) married and they moved together to Los Angeles.

My father used to like to quote Shakespeare. "Cowards die many times before their death. The valiant never tastes of death but once." Maybe Major Seeman's death surprised even him so much that he had to convince himself, and thereby others, that he was really gone. My daughter tells me that her husband, a career soldier, often reminds them all: Freedom isn't free. Thank you, Major Seeman, for giving me this opportunity to say thank you for your sacrifice to our country, your fellow soldiers, and the cause of freedom. I hope one day to be blessed with the opportunity to travel to Normandy myself to lay a wreath on this honorable man's grave.

Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France is where Major Seeman is buried.
Below is a wartime photo of my father, Captain Richard B. Thompson (at right), and his best friend in the unit, Lt. Joe Deacon, both of the 148th CEB.
Below that is my father's account of his activities with the men of the 148th CEB during WW II, returning home, of course, at the end, with gratitude to Major Seeman.



Anyone can see the original home where Major Seeman grew up in Los Angeles, Ca by googling the address 1238 South Orange Drive, Los Angeles -- it is renovated on the inside but probably looks very much the same outside as it did when Major Seeman lived there, as posted in the 1920-1930 U.S. Census and on his draft registration documentation.