Date of birth:

December 1st, 1918 (Rising Sun/Maryland, United States)

Date of death:

January 30th, 1945 (Huppenbroich, Germany)

Buried on:

Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial
Plot: F. Row: 10. Grave: 6.

Nationality:

American

Ernest W. Little was born December 1st, 1918, in Rising Sun, Maryland, to Norman Little and Aretha Gay Reed. Ernest had five brothers and two sisters. After graduation he was employed by various companies and was a volunteer with the local firebrigade. In 1939 he was married to Annie and they had two children, Dorothy Ann and Ernest Edward.

In 1944 Ernest enlisted in the Army. Late July 1944 he went to Camp Blanding, Florida were he was trained as an rifleman. He completed this training November 25th, 1944.

Christmas Day 1944 he went aboard the USS General J.R. Brooks and departed from New York on Christmas Night, arriving in Southampton, England 15 days later. Subsequently they crosssed the Channell to Le Havre and from there over land to Tongeren in Belgium, where they were billeted temporarily. He was posted to 2nd Platoon, M Company, 3rd Batalion, 311th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division.

Early January 1945, Ernest Little's unit was transfered to the Hürtgen Forest just outside Simmerath where furious battles had been fought since the beginning of September against a stiff German resistance, entrenched near the Siegried Line. The ultimate objective of this bloody battlefield were the Schwammelmühle dams near the little village of Schmidt. Facing them were the 6.000 soldiers of the 272e Volksgrenadierdivision protecting the passage to the dams.

At the conclusion of the Battle of the Bulge, plans were drawn up to capture the area around the dams. The 78th Infantry Division prepared for a massive assault, scheduled to take place January 30th. The attack would be launched against the villages of Huppenbroich, Eicherscheid and Kesternich. Ernest W. Little's company was given the mission to clear Huppenbroich of German troops. The village was fiercely defended by German SS units. 2nd Platoon was instructed to support I Company during the attack and then pull back.
During the attack, Ernest W. Little together with some other soldiers took shelter in a mineshaft to wait for American armored units supporting the assault. The shaft took a direct hit, instantaneously killing almost everybodty, among them Ernest Little.

The remains of Ernest W. Little were laid to rest in the American War Cemetery at Margraten, The Netherlands.

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• Photo: Hans van Toer
  
• - Hans van Toer
  - American Battle Monuments Commission
  

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