Myron J Komstadius

Cpl Myron Komstadius was killed in action on 06 June 1944, serving with 459th Amphibian Truck Company. On D-Day, the 131st Quartermaster Battalion (Mobile) went ashore in Normandy attached to the 348th Engineer Combat Battalion, supporting the 18th Infantry Regiment as part of the second tide on Force "O" Beach. Split into six groups riding amphibious DUKWs loaded with ammunition and demolition explosives, the battalion's first elements landed around 1:50 p.m. under heavy enemy fire, delivering their volatile cargo across the shelled beach before turning back to run a shuttle service, ferrying the wounded out and bringing more ammunition ashore. By 8:30 that evening they were hauling ammunition inland through the first beach exit opened to traffic, a punishing day's work that cost the battalion seventeen of its thirty-four DUKWs and brought casualties among its men. Cpl Komstadius was killed in action that day; the report does not specify the individual circumstances.