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Stillings, Marvin E. (607th)

Marvin E. Stillings 1Marvin E. Stillings

Biography: Marvin Earle Stillings was born on September 1, 1922, in Milford Center, Union County, Ohio. He was the son of Robert Dale Stillings and Bessie Mae Sewell and attended Madison Mills School.

On June 20, 1942, Marvin married the former Pauline Rebecca Riley who was born in Washington Court House, Fayette County, OH and the daughter of Harry LeRoy Riley and Lovey Mae Merritt. His draft card shows he was working at the Godman Shoe Company in Columbus, OH at the end of June, 1942.

Service Time: Marvin entered the Army on December 15, 1942, at Columbus, OH. He was assigned to and joined Company B of the 607th Tank Destroyer Battalion on December 28th, 1942 at Camp Hood, Texas.

He trained with the unit at a number of locations including: Fort Ord, Camp San Luis Obispo, Hunter Liggett Military Reservation and the Desert Training Center, all in California, along with Camp Hood, Texas and Camp Cooke, CA. His MOS (Military Occupation Specialty-his job) was anti-tank gun crewman. While they originally trained with M10 tank destroyers, the unit was converted to a towed battalion, utilizing the M5 3” anti-tank gun, on December 15, 1943.

Arriving at Liverpool, England, on April 21, 1944, they continued training. Company B landed at Utah Beach, Normandy, France on June 24th and the 607th supported the advance on Cherbourg, fighting along the Seves River in July. They joined the drive to Le Mans and envelopment of the Falaise Pocket in August, advancing to the Moselle River in September and supporting operations against Metz through November. The unit converted to a self-propelled battalion equipped with M36 tank destroyers in time for the final assault on Metz. Continuing the drive toward the Saar River, they participated in the attack on Saarlautern, Germany, followed by the subsequent fight against the Siegfried Line in December.

Marvin E. Stillings 2The photo at left is from the Young American Patriots publication showing Marvin, just prior to shipping overseas.

On January 7, 1945, Company B was attached to the 94th Infantry Division. Marvin was promoted to Private First Class December 11th. On the 15th, 1st Platoon moved to Besch, Germany, and prepared to move to Nennig. As the area was not cleared of mines the platoon did not enter town. The platoon leader, leading a 1/4 ton jeep on reconnaissance of the route, was wounded when the 1/4 ton was blown up on a mine. The vehicle was destroyed and 3 enlisted men were killed. Marvin was one of the three men.

On January 19th, Private First Class Marvin E. Stillings, Private First Class Lott Nesbitt, and Private Louis Juliano were all listed as Missing In Action (MIA) in the unit Morning Report (MR). On the 20th, all three men were listed as Killed In Action (KIA) in the MR.

PFC Stillings was initially buried in a temporary military cemetery and was eventually interred in the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, Plot K, Row 31, Grave 24. We would like to thank Private First Class Stillings for making the ultimate sacrifice for his country.