Bates, Lawrence J.
Army Staff sergeant

Lawrence J. Bates from New York, Chenango county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Wednesday, November 8, 1944
Death details: The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II, was fought between Allied and German forces from September 1944 to February 1945. As U.S. forces advanced eastward into Germany, the defending Germans manned “Siegfried Line” positions opposite the Belgian border. The battle grew to involve approximately 200,000 troops, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. American forces initially entered the area seeking to block German reinforcements from moving north toward the fighting around Aachen, the westernmost city of Germany, near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. In the battle’s second phase and as part of the Allied’s larger offense toward the Rhine River, U.S. troops attempted to push through the forest to the banks of Roer River. Aided by bad weather and rough terrain, German forces in the Hürtgen Forest put up unexpectedly strong resistance due to a well-prepared defense. American forces were unable to break through to the Rur before the German Ardennes offensive struck in December 1944, known as the Battle of the Bulge, which halted the eastward Allied advance until February 1945. Staff Sergeant Lawrence J. Bates, who entered the U.S. Army from New York, served with Company L, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, at the time of the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. On November 8, 1944, his unit participated in a mission to seize and hold the village of Schmidt, Germany; however, German troops overran and encircled the position, forcing the U.S. troops’ withdrawal. SSG Bates was killed during the action by a direct hit from an enemy artillery shell, but because the area remained in enemy hands, it was not possible to search for his remains at the time. After the war, U.S. military investigators attempted to locate SSG Bates’ remains but were not successful. Today, Staff Sergeant Bates is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American, Belgium

Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency