Name: Roderick Lee Nicol Rank: Private First Class Service Number: 37347691 Service: Company A, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Division, US Army Awards: Purple Heart Date of Birth: June 7, 1923 Place of Birth: Mullen, Shoshone County, Idaho Date of Enlistment: June 7, 1943 Place of Enlistment: Denver, Colorado Address at Enlistment: Montrose, Colorado Age at Enlistment: 20 Height: 5 feet, 9 inches Complexion: Dark Brown Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Gray Occupation: Mining Marital Status: Single Next of Kin: Mary E. Nicol (Mother) Religion: Roman Catholic Date of Death: July 17, 1944 Age: 21 Cemetery: Cedar Creek Cemetery, Montrose, Montrose County, Colorado Grave: Section D, Block 7, N 1/2 Lot 4 Roderick Lee Nicol was the son of David Nicol (1888-1928) and Mary Eliza (Landry) Nicol (1890-1967). He had four siblings – Kenneth David Nicol (1918-1943), Robert Nicol (1920-1990), Marvel Elizabeth Nicol (1925-1928), and David William Nicol (1928-1929). Roderick’s mother was born in Heatherton, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. His maternal grandmother was Eliza Deon (1856-1945). Maternal grandfather Simon Francis Landry (1861-1940) moved to Colorado in 1909, bought 3 lots of land for $600 to build his home. He was in charge of the Denver Rio Grande construction train. Roderick’s father was born in Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland in the United Kingdom. Roderick’s brother Kenneth David Nicol also served in WWII with the 404th Bomber Squadron, 28th Bomber Group, Heavy, of the United States Army Air Force and died November 18, 1943. Roderick was born in Idaho but the family moved to Montrose, Colorado when Roderick was 6 years old. Roderick registered for the US Draft on June 30, 1942, in Montrose, California. He was living with his family in Montrose and working for the US Vanadium Corporation in Uravan, Montrose Co., Colorado. Roderick went to England in January 1944 and trained with the 47th Infantry Regiment during the spring of 1944. On June 10, 1944 (D-Day +4), the 47th Infantry Regiment landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, France. By June 14, 1944, combat patrols were in contact with the Germans and by nightfall of the 16th the 47th Regiment blocked the last escape route for the Germans in the Cotentin Peninsula. The Allies captured Cherbourg in June 28th, and, for a few days the 9th Infantry Division’s operations halted for necessary rest and re-supply. The order to resume combat came on July 9th and soon elements of the 47th were in the midst of the ‘Battle of the Hedgerows’, one of the bloodiest battles and toughest encounters of the French campaign. Roderick was killed in action July 17, 1944, during the Battle of the Hedgerows / the Battle of Saint-Lô in France. Roderick’s family chose to repatriate his remains rather than have him interred at an American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery in France. His body was returned to Montrose July 22, 1948, under full military escort and he was interred at the Cedar Creek Cemetery, Montrose, Montrose County, Colorado.

9th Infantry Division, the "Old Reliables”, and the 47th Infantry Regiment Insignias

Painting by Keith Rucco for The National Guard, Normandy, France, July 15, 1944