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A Mass of Christian Burial for Charles J. McElligott, 77, a decorated Army veteran of World War II, will be offered at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in St. Benedict's Catholic Church, Main Street and Eggert Road, Eggertsville.
Prayers will be said at 9 in Dietrich Funeral Home, 2480 Kensington Ave., Snyder. Interment will be in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.
McElligott died Friday (May 27, 1994) in Veterans Hospital after a long illness.
A Chicago native, he moved to Amherst in 1961. He also had lived in Buffalo and Cleveland.
A member of the 508th Paratroop Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, McElligott parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
During the campaign, he was severely injured and taken prisoner by the Germans. He spent 11 months as a prisoner of war in Poland and was freed by Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd Army in April 1945. McElligott, who achieved the rank of captain, was awarded the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.
In Buffalo, he worked as a plant manager for Buffalo Paper Stock Co. and then as chief housekeeper at Erie County Medical Center until retiring in 1984.
Survivors include his wife, the former Mary Young; four sons, Charles of Dayton, Ohio, Dennis of Cleveland, and John and Terrence, both of Amherst; three daughters, Mary S. Franklin of Sarasota, Fla., Elizabeth Forrest of Mission Viejo, Calif., and Ann Zehr of Amherst; and 16 grandchildren.
(The Buffalo News, Buffalo, NY, 29 May 1994, Page C15 -
courtesy of Tedd Cocker)
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(courtesy of David McInturff)
Grave markers for Charles J. McElligott and spouse in
Section 60, Site 1949 of the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington
(Arlington county), Virginia.
Lt. McElligott, albeit wounded in the stomach by
machine-gun fire, was one of the few members of his stick that survived the
jump into Normandy. He was taken prisoner and held until the war was
ended.
On June 3, 1945 he was aboard the SS Monticello which
carried over 700 U.S. ex-POWs home. |
