Application for a grave marker and resulting stone for
Herman E. Waldon in Washington Park East Cemetery, Indianapolis (Marion
county), Indiana..
Herman registered for the draft in Danville, IN on 17
February 1942 and was inducted into the Army at Indianapolis, IN on 15
October 1942.
19421 Morning reports for Company E, 508th PIR are
unavailable but in March 1943, Pvt Waldon was seen taking a 10-day
furlough between 9 March and 19 Match, 1943. This period would
have coincided with his completion of jump school at Fort Banning, GA.
Something, perhaps an injury in the Tennessee
Maneuvers or a practice jump, caused him to be transferred out
of the 508th prior to the regiment being sent to the ETO..
He did go to England nonetheless as his new unit,
Company M, 16th Infantry, 1st Division, was
preparing for D-Day.
Where he was located during that campaign is unknown
but in July 1944 he was wounded in action and evacuated to a field
hospital for treatment of shrapnel in his thigh. He was not
returned to duty until September 1944.
On 25 October 1945 Pfc Waldon arrived in New York, NY
from Le Havre, France aboard the SS Argentina which from 1942 to 1946 was operated
as the troopship Argentina.
Herman married Katherine Richards in Marion county,
Indiana. She never remarried after Herman's death and was buried
next to him after her death in 2007.
[Note: Herman married Katherine Richards at which time he changed his name from Walden to Waldon which has
apparently been a tradition among numerous family members.] It would
seem that the 508th lost a good man as Herman conducted himself well in
combat. Not only did he earn a Purple Heart with 1 Oak Leaf
Cluster but also a Bronze Star with a "V" (for Valor) device and an Oak
Leaf Cluster. It appears that the first Bronze Star was
awarded to him after he was the only man to return from a patrol. He was
given the nickname ''Lucky'' and it stuck. |