More On PFC James Devine, Courtesy of a Special Guest Blogger

The story of my visit to the grave of PFC James F. DeVine at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France last month struck a chord with many readers, including my niece Kaye Peltier.  Karen (as I know her) did an amazing amount of research on Private DeVine, and I asked if she would be willing to share her findings in a narrative form.  So, take it away, Karen......

Faithful readers of The Grandstander will remember the poignant post from June 6, 2018, in which Bob described Mr. & Mrs. Grandstander’s recent visit to Normandy, France. I was especially taken by the section describing Bob placing a rose on the grave of a young soldier from Pennsylvania. He asked:

Who is James DeVine? Where in Pennsylvania did he live? Did he have a family? Does he have children and grandchildren that have visited this site? Questions about which I shall always wonder.

How could we let these questions stand? Through the miracles of the Internet and crowdsourcing, The Grandstander readership had to wait a mere two hours after the blog was posted to Facebook to see a photo of Private First Class James Francis DeVine Jr.

James Francis DeVine Jr. was born in DuBois, PA, on May 15, 1921. The son of James and Minnie (Nale) DeVine, James Jr. was the eldest of seven children. The family moved from Clearfield County to the Parnassus neighborhood of New Kensington by the time James Jr. was five years old. The family home at 621 Fourth Avenue appears to have been demolished (along with its neighbors) to make way for Citizens General Hospital (now Citizens Ambulatory Care Center).

James was a member of the New Kensington High School Class of 1940. In reviewing the 1937 and 1938 yearbooks, it appears that James was not active in sports or other extracurricular activities, but worked more than 20 hours a week at a market during high school (as noted in the 1940 census). James’ draft card indicates that he was working for Streamline Market at 900 Fifth Avenue in 1942. Looking through the New Kensington 1940 City Directory, it was surprising to find that Streamline was one of 115 retail grocers in New Kensington – a town of only 30,000 people!

James completed his selective service registration on February 16, 1942. It would be interesting to know if James was caught up in the national feelings of patriotism and desire to serve one’s country that developed after the attack on Pearl Harbor just two months earlier, or if he felt trepidation when he presented at the Westmoreland County Draft Board on Fourth Avenue (right on the street where he lived). We may not know his feelings, but we do know the facts: he was a blue-eyed, brown-haired young man, with the exceptional characteristic of being 6’4 ¼” tall at age 20.   

James was called to service in the US Army on August 8, 1942. He served in the 8^th Infantry Regiment, 4^th Infantry Division. Following the movement of the Division from 1942 – 1944, James may have trained at Fort Benning, GA; Camp Gordon, GA; Fort Dix, NJ; and Camp Gordon Johnston, FL before being shipped overseas in January 1944.

James’ youngest sister, Marilyn, was only 4 years old when he left home to serve.

The 4^th Infantry Division arrived in England beginning on January 26, 1944. Soldiers alternated between keeping the equipment ready and doing calisthenics to keep themselves ready. On April 27, 1944, the 4^th Infantry participated in a training expedition called Exercise Tiger, in preparation for what would become the D-Day invasion. The training exercise went horribly awry, and 749 soldiers and sailors were killed by the torpedoes of German submarines who were alerted to the training exercise by excessive radio activity.

Nevertheless, the 4^th Infantry was selected to lead the charge on Utah Beach on D-Day. James survived the fighting on June 6, but was killed in action in Basse-Normandie, France, on June 11, 1944. His obituary in his parents’ local paper stated:

“Killed somewhere in France,” were the words in a telegram delivered to Mr. and Mrs. James F. DeVine, Sr., 621 Fourth Avenue, yesterday, informing them of the death of their son, Private First Class James DeVine, Jr.

He was awarded the Silver Star medal for gallantry in action and the Purple Heart.

Mr. and Mrs. DeVine lost one son, and then saw their second eldest son, Jack, deployed to Europe the following month (July 23, 1944) with the US Army Air Corps. Jack had been called to serve about six months after James, in February 1943. Their third son, Robert, registered in November 1945 and served as well. James Sr. was himself an Army soldier and served in Europe during WWI, and I can imagine that his own experience must have informed his concern and worry while his sons were overseas.

I confess that I was not familiar with compensation to families who lost soldiers in our various US wars. Mr. and Mrs. DeVine filed paperwork in March 1950 to claim a “Beneficiaries Entitlement” benefit of $250 each for the loss of their son. Five hundred dollars (approximately $5,200 in 2018 dollars) doesn’t seem like adequate compensation for the loss of a son, but I suspect there is no amount that would cover the loss.

Returning to the original questions from The Grandstander post on Omaha Beach, we have a photograph and a little information, but very little insight into who PFC James F. DeVine was when he was killed in action five days after D-Day. It is hard to guess what his life might have been like had he returned from Europe. When Bob found the grave of PFC DeVine at the American Cemetery, he had no idea that he was honoring a young man who grew up less than 13 miles from his own childhood home in Squirrel Hill. We know that there are no children or grandchildren of PFC DeVine to visit the grave site in France, but I suspect that his parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews may have felt and continue to feel his absence among the family plots at Greenwood Memorial Park in Lower Burrell. Perhaps there is some small consolation in knowing that visitors to Normandy, along with the readers of The Grandstander who made a virtual visit, join Bob in thanking James DeVine and his family for their sacrifices.

*Note: in searching for James’ 1940 yearbook, I found a blog created by the daughter of one of James’ classmates who also crossed Utah Beach on D-Day. Jack Clark lived blocks away from the DeVine family on Fourth Avenue in New Kensington and was a member of the New Kensington High School Class of 1940. Jack’s daughter Susan collected her father’s stories from WWII and published them on her blog, No Major Goof-Up (http://majorgoofup.blogspot.com).

Kaye Mushrow Peltier

Our Special Guest Blogger

Many, many thanks to Karen for this exceptionally moving piece.  I am grateful, Karen, that you agreed to write this up for me.

I should also say that in recent weeks (and, again, thanks to Karen's research), I have been able to make contact with one of James DeVine's nieces via Facebook.  At this point, I am choosing not to share her name in this space until and unless she allows me to do so.  Funny thing, when she responded to my inquiry, she mentioned that my name "seemed familiar" to her.  Turns out that back in the late 1980's, she was employed by a then-subsidiary of Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania, so it is possible that our paths may have crossed at one time or another.  Amazing how small the world can be.

And again, all thanks go to James DeVine and his comrades for the sacrifices that they made on our behalf all those years ago.

PFC James F. De Vine, Jr

In my post earlier today, I told of placing a rose on the grave of PFC James De Vine of Pennsylvania at the American Cemetery in Normandy last week.  I knew that in this age, where everything is on line somewhere, that information about Private De Vine could be found, and that at some point, I was going to do just that.  

I am grateful to my friend Kaye Peltier for beating me to the punch on this and providing the following.

James De Vine was born in Westmoreland County and was Killed in Action at Basse-Normandie, France at the age of 23.  He was a recipient of a Silver Star and a Purple Heart.

Being able to attach a face to that white marble cross in Normandy makes this all the more real. Thanks, Kaye, for doing the research here, and thank you to James De Vine and his family for their sacrifices.

On Omaha Beach

It is altogether fitting, I think, that I sit down to write this piece on this date, June 6, and try to describe to you what was easily the highlight of our recent "Paris To The Heart of Normandy" vacation.

Last Tuesday, May 29, we departed on an excursion that was the longest day (yeah, I had to say that) of our trip.  We boarded coaches from our ship and took a two hour bus ride that delivered us to three of the D-Day landing beaches, Juno, Gold, and Omaha.  We caught glimpses of Juno Beach from our coach, and then stopped in the town of Arromanches.

Arromanches overlooks Gold Beach, 

and from there you can still see remnants of the "mulberries" which were installed by the British Army to create artificial harbors for Allied ships to dock and unload troops and supplies.

Arromanches also houses a D-Day Museum that we were able to visit, as well as a number of establishments that serve the tourists that constantly visit the town.  Some of those scenes....

We recreate Eisenhower and Montgomery 

surveying the battleground.

Our tour then took us to the still standing Nazi bunkers and gun placements that still overlook the beach.

Looking out over the English Channel.

Hard to see on this foggy, misty day.

Following lunch, we then were taken to the American Cemetery that overlooks Omaha Beach.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to describe the feelings that overtake you in looking at the sight of over 9,000 white crosses in this beautifully tended cemetery.

A ceremony was conducted that had our entire group turn and face the cemetery while The Star Spangled Banner was played on a bell carillon.  We then turned to the statue as that same carillon played Taps.

Then this young lady from the American Battlefield Monuments Foundation addressed us.

She is a native of Normandy and she told us all of the gratitude of the people of Normandy and all of France to the American and Allied Forces for what happened on June 6, 1944 and in the days and months that followed.  "When you go back home" she told us, "please tell everyone that we are forever grateful and that we shall never forget what was done for us."

Each of us on our tour was given a rose that we could place on a grave or an appropriate spot in the cemetery.  I had decided that I would find the grave of a soldier from Pennsylvania to place my rose, and I found this one.

It was only after I placed the rose on the grave that I saw the date on the cross.

PFC James F. De Vine Jr was killed in the Battle of Normandy on June 11, 1944, the date that was my Dad's thirty-first birthday.  It gave me chills.

Who was James De Vine?  Where in Pennsylvania did he live?  Did he have a family?  Does he have children and grandchildren that have visited this site?  Questions about which I shall always wonder.

As our time at the cemetery was ending, I managed to get this picture of a group of young schoolchildren, presumably French schoolchildren, who were visiting that day as part of a school tour.  If they are indeed French schoolchildren, it is good to see that the story and lessons of D-Day are being imparted to these following generations.

Then it was on to our final stop of the day, Omaha Beach itself.  I shall let these pictures tell the story.

A simple road sign tells you where you are going.

The English Channel as seen from Omaha Beach.  It was a very misty and foggy day when we visited.  So much so that we were unable to see the cliffs that overlooked the beach.  That was a little disappointing, but, somehow, we felt it was appropriate for the mood of the day.

The flags of the Allied Nations fly over Omaha Beach.

This is perhaps our favorite group photo of our entire trip.

 Dan and I with Vince Tortora.  We met Vince and Linda on the boat and 

shared many of our meals with them.  A great guy.

In 2018, members of the United States Army visit Omaha Beach as tourists.  

These soldiers are currently stationed somewhere in Italy.

Saw this very stark reminder of what happened in 1944 along a Norman 

roadside as we left Omaha Beach to head back to the boat.

A special thank you to our tour guide on this day, Angelique. 

She made history come alive for us.

I can think of no other occasion in my life where the sense and the weight of history was so overwhelming and so all-encompassing as it was on our visit to the D-Day Beaches and the American Cemetery in Normandy, France.  In his 1995 book, "My War", Andy Rooney wrote the following:

"There have been only a handful of days since the beginning of time on which the direction the world was taking has been changed for the better in only one twenty-four hour period by an act of man. June 6, 1944, was one of them.

"What the Americans, the British, and the Canadians were trying to do was get back an entire continent that had been taken from its rightful owners and whose citizens had been taken captive by Adolf Hitler's German army. It was one of the most monumentally unselfish things one group of people ever did for another."

I can think of no other words to say about the experience of this visit.  

We shall never forget it.