Memorial

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Pfc Jay Bassett attended Daingerfield High School.

His platoon was detailed to defend an outlying district of the town for the night. Bassett, with his squad and others, occupied a two-story house, the second story of which was wooden. Soon after dark, a guard stationed outside the house saw a group of men coming down the road from the enemy-held portion of the town dressed in white capes. Hoping they were coming to surrender, the guard called halt. Instead, the Germans fired machine pistols into the building instantly killing Bassett and the platoon radio operator. Within a few minutes, the Germans later identified as members of an SS Panzer Division had set fire to the building. The men brought the bodies of Bassett and the radio operator down to the ground floor of the now burning building. As they prepared to evacuate, they discovered that the house was surrounded and that they could not take the dead with them. Three more men were killed in attempting the escape.