VICTOR JOHN GERVOL SR (US ARMY)

Sparviero · Oct 9, 2009

Victor John Gervol Sr.

Victor John Gervol Sr., 90, peacefully passed away on Oct. 15, 2008.

A child of the Great Depression, Victor worked in the mining industry and other jobs in northern Minnesota until enlisting in the United States Army in 1940. While as an infantryman stationed in Fort Lewis, Wash., he was transferred to California following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

While assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division, he first saw action in the North African invasion of 1942, seeing combat in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. In 1943, he was with the Division when they made an amphibious assault landing on Sicily, fought its way into Palermo and then to Messina, thus ending the Sicilian campaign.

Victor then transferred to the 9th Infantry Division, 39th Infantry Regiment: the famous "Fighting Falcons" of AAA-O fame ("Anything, Anywhere, Anytime-Bar Nothing.") In England they begin preparation for the Normandy amphibious landing. It was there that he was among the first to be awarded the new decoration, The Combat Infantry Badge.

The 9th Division landed on Utah Beach (D+4) June 10, 1944. Victor continued with the Division as they literally walked across France and Belgium to Germany where in September 1944, he was among the first troops to breach the Siegfried Line. He then was deployed into the Hurtgen Forest area of Germany where he was wounded in October 1944. For that action he was awarded the Purple Heart, to go along with his Silver and Bronze stars.

VICTOR JOHN GERVOL SR | Obituaries | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota
https://www.legacy.com/statesmanjournal/obituaries.asp?page=obitfinderorder&personid=118977936