Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
COOPER, Theodore Roosvelt - Date of
birth
4 May 1924 -
Age
20 -
Place of birth
Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina -
Hometown
Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina -
Ethnicity
African American
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
32985340 -
Rank
Private -
Function
unknown -
Unit
C Company,
761st Tank Battalion
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
9 November 1944 - Place of
death
In the vicinity of Morville-lès-Vic, France
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| A | 26 | 12 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Edward J. Cooper (father)
Rosa L. Cooper (mother)
Edna M. Cooper (sister)
Ethel M. Cooper (sister)
Henry Cooper (brother)
Ralph Cooper (brother)
Mary L. Cooper (sister)
Larry Cooper (brother)
Nannie (Foster) Coleman (wife)
More information
Pvt Theodore R. Cooper attended Mather Academy in Camden, South CarolinaHe was married to Nannie Foster on 30 March 1943.
He enlisted in New York City, New York on 16 July 1943.
On 9 November, C Company ran into an anti-tank ditch near Morville. The German Panzer Division began to knock seven tanks out one by one down the line.
After the company commander Capt McHenry gave the order to dismount, several men were killed by shell fire and small arms when they crawled through the freezing and muddy waters of the ditch.
The men of the 761st who were killed during the liberation of Morville-lès-Vic are remembered on a monument at the Rue Principale, just outside the village.
The 761st Tank Battalion was the first African American armored unit to see combat and apart from some other officers consisted entirely of African American soldiers.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiiregistry.abmc.gov, www.ancestry.com - 1940 Census / WWII U.S. Draft Cards Young Men / South Carolina, U.S., County Marriage Records / History of the 761st TB
Photo source: Le Républicain Lorrain