Veteran Spotlight
by Richard D. L. Fulton
PFC Dale M. Ford, Sr.
First Thurmont 29th Division KIA
Dale McDannell Ford was born on August 9, 1921, in Thurmont to parents Zach and Mary Ford. He had five brothers: James, David, Jacob, William, and Robert; and three sisters: Lillie, Dorothy, and Charlotte.
Ford attended “grammar school” (elementary) in Hunterstown, Adams County, Pennsylvania, graduating from there in the seventh grade, with no further education noted in military registration records. His military records also noted that when he enlisted in 1941, he was described as being 5 feet 5 inches in height and weighing 120 pounds.
Ford resided in Hunterstown until 1935, when he returned to his hometown of Thurmont. In 1940, his occupation was given as a truck driver, according to the U.S. Census. Sometime following his return to Thurmont, he married Thurmont-resident Florence Wireman, but the date of the marriage was not readily determined by the author via internet records.
However, when Ford enlisted on February 3, 1941, his marital status was listed as single, while subsequently, he and his wife’s only child, Dale M. Ford Jr., was born on November 30, 1941.
Ford initially enlisted in Company A, 115th Infantry, 29th Division, of the Maryland National Guard, as previously stated, on February 3, 1941. At which time, he was subsequently inducted into the regular military service when the division was activated at Fort George G. Meade in February of 1941, according to an article published in the July 11, 1944, edition of The (Frederick) News.
The News also reported that Ford trained with his unit in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida before being stationed in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, then being deployed overseas to England in October 1942.
The 29th Division landed on Omaha Beach on June 4, 1944, D-Day. They then proceeded to advance into Normandy, capturing Saint-Lô (located about 37 miles from Omaha Beach). En route, the division found itself engaged in a severe firefight on June 13, which was subsequently dubbed the Battle of Bloody Gulch—a site located around the Manoir de Donville, about one mile southwest of Carentan in Normandy.
Carentan had already been captured by American forces on June 12, but the Germans were determined to retake the village, as retaking Carentan could have prevented American forces that had landed in Normandy via Omaha and Utah beaches from linking up by driving a wedge between them.
Ford was killed in action at the age of 22 on June 13, likely during the fight to prevent the Germans from retaking Carentan. According to an article published in the July 11, 1944, edition of The News, he was the first Thurmont man with the 29th Division to be killed in the invasion.
Over the course of the 37 miles from Omaha Beach to Saint-Lô, the 29th Division had sustained significant casualties, the 115th Infantry alone having suffered 175 troops killed and 726 wounded.
Ford was initially buried in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. After his remains were returned to the United States, funeral services for Ford were held on July 16, 1944, at the Presbyterian Church in Hunterstown, with the Reverend V.A. Guss officiating, according to an article published in the July 19, 1944, edition of The News. He was subsequently buried in the Blue Ridge Cemetery in Thurmont.
Ford was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart,
Florence remarried to Charles (Pete) H. Stitely, Jr., in 1952, and continued to reside in Thurmont, employed at the Emmitsburg Manufacturing Company as a seamstress for 11 years, and subsequently worked for Moore Business Forms as a proofreader, retiring in 1985. Additionally, she was a waitress at the Cozy Restaurant and at the Thurmont American Legion for many years, according to her 2017 obituary.
She was also buried in the Blue Ridge Cemetery in Thurmont.
U.S. Soldiers in 1944 with captured German vehicle in occupied Carentan. Source: National Archives
PFC Dale M. Ford, Sr. Source: Find A Grave
