Augustus (Gus) D. Labate – Private First Class.
Served with distinction in the Hq1 Battalion Support Section 1943 to June 1944 when he was killed in Normandy, France.
Gus was one of the courageous Hq1 “Hells Half Acre” defenders (See Chapter II, Combat Operations – Normandy).
Gus was a distinguished member of the “Greatest of the Greatest Generation.”
Gus’s family and WW II comrades contributed information for this summary.
Augustus D. Labate was born November 1, 1918 in Granville, New York. He graduated with the Granville High School Class in 1937. Like most of the young people in the post-depression years, Gus went to work. He was an industrious, reliable, conscious, well-liked worker.
Gus worked in a large Meat Market. One of his many tasks was to care for the cows that were kept in a barn adjacent to the market awaiting slaughter.
One day in 1940, a huge fire erupted in the barn. When Gus saw the fire he realized that the (his!) cows in the barn were suffering and burning, he grabbed an axe and ran to the barn.
Gus chopped his way into the burning building through the back wall of the barn, and saw that the cows were being burned alive. At great personal risk, Gus used the axe to put the cows out of their misery, one at a time.
In September 1941, Gus Labate was drafted into the Army. After basic training, the Army decided that based upon his meat market experience, Gus would make a good cook, they were right. Gus was a good cook and at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was promoted to Sergeant.
Being a good cook was a satisfying experience; however, living among and feeding the students in the Airborne school, and daily watching them make parachute jumps was too much for the adventurous Gus Labate.
Gus reasoned “anyone can cook!” Therefore, he volunteered for parachutist training at the Airborne School. The Army accepted his application but only at the expense of Gus forfeiting his Sergeants’ stripes and entering the school as a Private. |