Name: Merrill Bernard Conrad Rank: Private 1st Class Service Number: 31067367 Service: G Company, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, US Army Awards: Purple Heart Date of Birth: April 17, 1920 Place of Birth: Halifax, NS Date of Enlistment: February 19, 1942 Place of Enlistment: Fort Devens, Massachusetts Age at Enlistment: 21 Height: 5 feet, 11 ½ inches Complexion: Light Hair color: Brown Eye color: Blue Occupation: In printing and publishing Marital Status: Single Date of Death: June 17, 1944 Age: 24 Cemetery: Highland Cemetery, Norwood, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts Merrill Bernard Conrad was the son of Vernon Ralph Conrad (1894–1975) and Evelyn Pearl (Hirtle) Conrad (1900–1977), with several brothers and sisters. Merrill’s brother, Sergeant Calvin E. Conrad (1933-2008) served in the US Army in Korea. The family moved to the United States on December 20, 1924, travelling aboard the Boston & Yarmouth Steamship Co. ferry from Yarmouth, NS to Boston, Mass. Merrill registered for the US Draft on July 1, 1941, in Norwood, Mass. and enlisted in February of 1942. The 116th Infantry Regiment trained at Camp Croft near Spartanburg, Spartanburg Co., South Carolina. The 29th Infantry Division trained in Scotland and England for the cross-channel invasion from October 1942 until June 1944. Teamed with the 1st Division, a regiment of the 29th, (Charles’ 116th Infantry Regt.) was in the first assault wave to hit the beaches at Normandy on D-day, June 6, 1944. Landing on Omaha Beach on the same day in the face of intense enemy fire, the Division soon secured the bluff tops and occupied Isigny June 9. The Division cut across the Elle River and advanced slowly toward St. Lo, fighting bitterly in the Normandy hedge rows. Private 1st Class Merrill Bernard Conrad was killed eleven days after the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 17, 1944. He is interred at the Highland Cemetery in Norwood, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, his grave marked with a Veterans headstone, and is also remembered on his parents’ family headstone in the same cemetery. Two other known Nova Scotians also died in WWII serving with the 116th Infantry Regiment. Corporal Winburne Mitchell of South Farmington in Annapolis Co., NS, was killed in action on October 7, 1944; and Staff Sergeant Charles Ross Barry was killed in action December 6, 1944.