Albert E Soto

Pvt Albert Soto was killed in action on 06 June 1944, serving with Company B, 348th Engineer Combat Battalion. On D-Day, the 348th Engineer Combat Battalion came ashore at the Easy Red/Easy Green sector near Exit E-3, attached to the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion in support of the 16th Infantry Regiment. Its road construction sections reached the beach around 1300 hours and, under Lt. Col. Pixton, took on the difficult work of opening the exit road, dragging aside wrecked tanks and halftracks, tearing out old railway track, cutting lanes through the dunes, and laying matting so vehicles could move inland. By early the next morning tanks were able to use the cleared route, though wheeled vehicles had to wait for daylight. Amid this work, two of the battalion's officers pulled thirty men from a sinking landing craft just offshore, an act later recognized with the Bronze Star. Pvt Soto was killed in action that day; the report does not specify the individual circumstances.