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SERGEANT RICHARD H.
LIGHTOWLER, "Dick" to his friends, was a graduate of Woodrow
Wilson High School in Camden NJ, where he took a college preparatory
course of studies. Born and raised in Pottsville PA, the Lightowler
family moved to Camden in time for his senior year. He had been junior
class president and on the swim team of Pottsville High School.
After High School he worked for a short time for the
R.M. Hollingshead Corporation in Camden, whose factory was located not
far from his home at 649 Randolph
Street. He entered the Army on
August 5, 1943 and was sent to Syracuse University in Syracuse NY, as
part of the Army Specialized Training Program. When the ASTP program was
ended in early 1944, he was assigned to an infantry unit as a machine
gunner. He went overseas on October 24, 1944.
His unit took part in the fighting at the
Battle of the Bulge. On February 28th, the 87th Division went on the
offensive as the northernmost division of General George Patton's Third
Army, the objective, to breach the German border fortifications known as
the West Wall. Sergeant Richard H. Lightowler was killed in action on February 3, 1945
during the above-mentioned offensive.
After the war, fellow workers of the R.M. Hollingshead
Corporation in Camden NJ, raised money and erected a monument
remembering their fallen co-workers that stood on the factory grounds. This
monument now is located in Westmont (Haddon Township) NJ. |
