FULL NAME:

Robert W. Diffey

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER (ASN):

6951053

  • DATE OF BIRTH: January 9, 1922
  • DATE OF DEATH: June 9, 1944
RESIDENCE (DURING WWII):

Bokchito, Oklahoma

DATE / PLACE OF ENLISTMENT:
  • DATE OF ENLISTMENT:
    October 17, 1939
ORGANIZATION:
  • MAIN UNIT:
    9th Infantry Regiment
  • SUBUNIT:
    Company L, 3rd Battalion
RANK / POSITION IN UNIT (LAST KNOWN):
  • RANK:
    Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt.)
BATTLES AND CAMPAIGNS:

✭ Normandy Campaign (6 June – 24 July 1944)

DECORATIONS AND CITATIONS (AWARDS):

🎖Purple Heart

SUMMARY OF HIS SERVICE:

Robert Diffey from Bokchito, Bryan County, Oklahoma, enlisted in the army together with his brother Charles in October 1939 and they served together through their training and their time in Northern Ireland up to the fateful day, June 9, 1944.

STATUS:
  • CATEGORY:
    Killed in action (KIA)
  • DATE:
    June 9, 1944
  • LOCATION:
    Haut-Hameau, Normandy
  • NOTES:
    Company L, 9th Inf. Regt. met a stiff resistance of enemy small arms fire in the country of hedgerows near the village of Haut-Hameau only a few miles north of Rubercy. The Germans managed to stop the attack for several hours until the Cannon Company and the 15th Field Artillery Battalion launched their supporting fire together with several destroyers in the English Channel. After this terrifying artillery fire Company L managed to advance but with a tremendous loss. On June 9, 1944 Company L lost five men who were killed in their first combat engagement. That evening, word spread among all the men of Company L that both Diffey brothers had been killed during the fight.
HONORED BY:

Men of the 2nd Infantry Division

NARA - Display Full Records

File Unit: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records)
in the Series: World War II Army Enlistment Records, created 6/1/2002 - 9/30/2002, documenting the period ca. 1938 - 1946. - Record Group 64 (info)

Brief Scope: This series contains records of approximately nine million men and women who enlisted in the United States Army, including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.

Source: aad.archives.gov/aad/
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THE STORY IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR THIS SOLDIER
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