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Information sought on Mississippi County soldier
To the editor:
My name is Wally Schoofs and I'm living in Belgium. I'm a teacher and father of two children. The reason I'm sending you this message is that we, as a family, have adopted the grave of an American soldier which died in WWII and who is now burried in a Belgian military cemetery.
Now I'm doing research after this soldier and I've found out that he was coming from Mississippi County, Arkansas. We hope to learn more about this soldier and therefore we ask your help. Would you perhaps make an article about our search and hopefully someone could help us further. Perhaps some relative could read the story and the story of this soldier would never be forgotten, neither in the USA or over here in Belgium.
The information that I already have from this soldier is his name, rank and some details:
His name is Ira W. Biggs, he was a private first class serving in an anti-aircraft artillery unit (494th AAA Gun Bataillion) which had set up its guns around the town of Antwerp in Belgium. The crewmembers did a perfect job in shooting down the V1 flying bombs which the Germans fired at the harbor of Antwerp between October 1944 and March 1945. PFC Biggs' unit (a battery) did set up their guns and camp in the fields opposite my grandparents' house. We learned that on Dec. 29, 1944 that PFC Biggs was killed in action by a grenade which exploded in his campsite.
Further, we know his Army service number: 37067914, and that he is registered among the WWII casualties from Mississippi County, Arkansas.
Next week we plan to bring a visit to his grave and take some pictures and lay flowers and take a moment of peace. He is resting in the American military cemetery at Henri-Chappelle in Belgium.
We hope eventually to find someone who could help us telling more about him or perhaps share a picture with us.
If you are interested in other information please ask because we sure hope that someone could help us further in our research.