Remembering World War II

Name: Harry Laurence Fraser Rank: Private First Class Service Number: 36864134 Service: 13th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, VII Corps Artillery, US Army Awards: Purple Heart Date of Birth: December 24, 1909 Place of Birth: Glen Margaret, Halifax County, NS Date of Enlistment: Unknown Place of Enlistment: Lincoln Park, Wayne Co., Michigan Address at Enlistment: Lincoln Park, Wayne Co., Michigan Age at Enlistment: Unknown Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Complexion: Ruddy Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Brown Date of Death: April 16, 1945 Age: 35 Cemetery: Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands Grave: Section I, Row 10, Grave 21 Harry Laurence Fraser was the son of John Lewis ‘James’ Fraser (1874-1918) and Jeannette (or Janet) Beatrice Weinacht (1877-1918). Variation of his mother’s maiden name include Wynacht, and Whynot in Nova Scotia. in His mother was born in Mahone Bay, Lunenburg Co., NS. His father was born in Glen Margaret, NS. His siblings were Marjorie Amelia Fraser (1905–1998), James Howard Fraser (1906–1967), Beulah Muriel Fraser (1908–1918), Stanley William Fraser (1912–1973), Seth Alexander Fraser (1915–1949) and James Henry Fraser (1918–1918). Harry immigrated to the United States in 1928 and registered for the US Draft October 16, 1940, in Lincoln Park, Wayne Co., Michigan. At the time he was living in Michigan and working at Ternstedt Manufacturing Plant. Harry was employed as an auto worker when he married Virginia Margaret (Green) Fraser (1916-1993) on July 13, 1940. Virginia was born in Rochester, New York. That had a daughter Patricia Lee Fraser born August 4, 1941 but she died of bronchopneumonia in October of 1941. The Ternstedt Manufacturing Plant was building car parts when the war started and quickly changed to making aircraft and other military parts and equipment. It went on to earn two Army-Navy "E" Awards, an honor presented to companies during World War II whose production facilities achieved "Excellence in Production". After enlistment, Harry was assigned to the 13th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, VII Corps Artillery, of the US Army. The 13th fought in the Normandy Campaign in June of 1944 and the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944/1945. Private First Class Harry Laurence Fraser died in the spring on April 16, 1945, from wounds received in battle in Europe. Harry was interred at the Netherlands American Cemetery in the Margraten. He is also remembered with a memorial marker stone at the Michigan Memorial Park in Flat Rock, Wayne County, Michigan in plot Block 11, Garden of Hope Section 387, Space 5. His next of kin listed on his US Headstone and Internment Record headstone Miss Marjorie A Fraser, sister in Arlington, Mass.

Harry Laurence Fraser

Sources Honorstates.org American Battle Monuments Commission – Harry L. Fraser American Battle Monuments Commission – Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial findagrave