Edward Kasper
Service Record
- Rank: Private, U.S. Army
- Serial Number: 20224119
- Unit: Company I, 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division
- Entered service from: New Jersey
- Died: October 27, 1944
- Burial: St. Joseph Cemetery, 240 Lower Landing Road, Blackwood (Gloucester Township), NJ
- Awards: Purple Heart
Private Edward Kasper was born Edward Kasperowicz to Vincent and Estella Kasperowicz. The family belonged to the traditionally Polish-American St. Joseph Parish of Camden, NJ, although by the time of the war they had moved to 855 Oaklyn Avenue in Runnemede, NJ. He had served in the Civilian Conservation Corps prior to entering the Army. Private Kasper trained as a radio operator. He served with Company I of the 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division.
The 44th Infantry Division landed in France via Cherbourg on September 15, 1944, and trained for a month before entering combat on October 18, 1944, when it relieved the 79th Division in the vicinity of Forêt de Parroy, east of Lunéville, France, to take part in the Seventh Army drive to secure several passes in the Vosges Mountains. Within 6 days, the Division was hit by a heavy German counterattack, on October 25 and 26. The attack was repulsed and the 44th continued its active defense.
Edward Kasper was killed in action in France on October 27, 1944, at the age of 24. His death was reported in the November 27, 1944 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. After the war his body was brought home and buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in Gloucester Township, NJ. Besides his parents, he was survived by his brother Henry and his sister, Mrs. Helen Thurman, all of Runnemede, NJ. Both Henry and Helen had served in the Navy during the war.
Edward Kasper is memorialized on the plaque at St. Joseph Church, 10th & Liberty Street in Camden, NJ, and on the monument at Park Drive & Route 130 in Pennsauken, NJ, as Edward Kasprowicz. He is also memorialized on the Runnemede, NJ, War Memorial as Edward Kasper.
Tag: edward-kasper
Polish Heroes War Memorial
The Polish Heroes War Memorial at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, N.J. (Park Drive and Route 130) unites three monuments — to Casimir Pulaski (1936, moved here 1984), Thaddeus Kosciusko (1984), and, since 1995, the members of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church of South Camden who died in World War II.
St. Joseph's Parish WWII War Memorial
A bronze plaque in the vestibule of St. Joseph Church at 10th and Liberty Streets in Camden, presented by the Catholic War Veterans, St. Joseph's Post 418, and dedicated April 3, 1949, honoring the parish's heroic war dead of World War II.
Pvt. Edward Kasper Mass on Friday
A solemn high Mass for Pvt. Edward Kasper, killed in action in France on October 27, 1944, was set for Friday morning at St. Theresa's Church in Runnemede, with burial in St. Joseph's cemetery at Chews Landing.