Name: Arthur Andrew Cunningham Rank: Technical Sergeant 3rd Grade Service Number: 31017430 Service: Battery C, 536th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (Automatic Weapons) Battalion (M), Coast Artillery Corps, US Army Awards: Purple Heart Date of Birth: February 12, 1918 Place of Birth: Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts Date of Enlistment: February 24, 1941 Place of Enlistment: Boston, Massachusetts Address at Enlistment: Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts Age at Enlistment: 23 Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Complexion: Light Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Brown Occupation: Electrical Equipment Manufacturing Marital Status: Single Date of Death: August 26, 1944 Age at Death: 26 Cemetery: St Joseph Cemetery, Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts Arthur Andrew Cunningham was the son of Arthur James Cunningham (1884- 1956) and Augusta Barbara (Sheen) Cunningham (1885-1963), and the brother of six sisters - Florence Catherine Cunningham (1908-1983), Ora Jane Cunningham (1910-1989), Mary Ann Cunningham (1912-2004), Augusta Mildred Cunningham (1913-2009), Birdie Margarite Cunningham (1916-2011), Josephine T Cunningham (1923-2012). His mother was born in Prince Edward Island, and his father was born in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. Arthur graduated from English High School in Lynn, Mass. in 1936, and attended Burdett College at 18 Boylston Street (and Washington) in Boston, Mass. He completed his registration for the US Draft on October 16, 1940, and was working for Mr. McKean at the Broadway Garage on Broadway in Lynn, Mass. at the time. By 1941, just before he enlisted in the US Army, he was employed by the River Works plant of the General Electric Company (GE). After his induction in the US Army, Arthur was assigned to the 536th Anti-Aircraft Artillery AW Battalion (M). The 536th served in the North African and Mediterranean theaters of operations. They entered combat in North Africa in November 1943. The 536th was the only American ground force unit to serve in the defence of Malta, including being stationed on the Maltese archipelago island of Gozo. The battalion operated in the Anzio beachhead from February to June 1944. Elements of the battalion later formed part of Task Force 45 in Italy. TF45 was a polyglot task force of American and British antiaircraft gunners acting as infantry. Sergeant Arthur Andrew Cunningham was killed in action in Italy on August 26, 1944, and he was returned to the US for burial at his family’s request rather than having him buried at an American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery in Italy. He is interred at the St Joseph Cemetery in Lynn, Essex Co., Mass. Sergeant Cunnigham’s Chaplain, a priest from Springfield, Massachusetts, described him as a soldier and a gentleman on whom his superior officer had depended greatly.

Sources: findagrave honorstates org