[courtesy of Allen Wheatley]

Grave marker for Marion E. Kinman in the New Hope Cemetery, Boyd (Parker county), Texas.

Marion registered for the draft ca. 1941 and enlisted in the Army at Santa Fe, NM on 29 June 1941.

On 31 March 44, Pfc Kinman was transferred from Hq 82nd Airborne Div to Company A, 508th PIR.

He was promoted to Corporal on 1 August, 1944.

General Order  No. 21 (1945) awarded Sgt Kinman the Silver Star for actions taken on 30 October 1944 2 miles from Bemmel, Holland.  His citation read:

Though having been on O.P. [outpost] duty during the entire night previous, he volunteered to go on a daylight recon patrol into enemy territory.  After contacting the enemy and attempting to take as prisoner one or more of the S.S. troops in that area, he personally killed two of the enemy who was blocking the patrols withdrawal toward their own lines.  He refused to leave his officer patrol leader, who had been injured by enemy grenades, and was in a semi-conscious condition, even after being ordered to do so.  With the assistance of another Sgt. of the patrol he carried the patrol leader to safety while fighting off  the enemy who was laying mortar, rifle and machine pistol fire on them.  His action undoubtedly saved the life of the patrol leader, and the information gathered by him was of great value to his Bn. and Regt.

Sgt Kinman himself was wounded in action on 2 November 1944* and was evacuated to a field hospital. He did not return to the company.

On 30 December 1944, Sgt Kinman arrived in the U.S.

But it was not until 25 June 1945 that Sgt Kinman was discharged at the Separation Center, Fort Bliss, TX.  The delay may have been due to continued medical procedures.

*Years later when Zig Boroughs was gathering materials for his first book, Jim Blue wrote that Kinman had been in a truck crossing the Nijmegen bridge when a German artillery round hit the bridge and shrapnel took off one of his fingers.