Sergeant Alfred M. Reeves
United States Army (1942-1944)

Alfred Martin Reeves was born on December 2, 1917, and lived with his mother Mary, and his brother Frederick, at 806 Brookline Boulevard. Alfred completed one year at South Hills High School, then went on to a career in the mechanical treatment of metals (rolling, stamping, forging, pressing). On April 24, 1942, four months after the United States of America entered World War II, both Alfred and Frederick enlisted in the service. Alfred opted for the U.S. Army and Frederick chose the Navy.

After completing basic training, Alfred was assigned to the 12th Motorized Infantry Regiment of the 4th Motorized Infantry Division, nicknamed the Ivy Division. Private Reeves joined his new unit at Camp Gordon, Georgia and rehearsed training at the Carolina Maneuvers during the fall of 1942. The 4th Division moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey on April 12, 1943, where in August it was again reconfigured, this time as a standard infantry regiment.

While his brother Frederick was learning the skills of a Pharmacists Mate at a U.S. Naval Hospital Corps School, Alfred was learning the skills of an Army infantryman, and doing so well that he was soon promoted to Corporal. The Division participated in battlefield maneuvers in Florida starting in September and after this fall training exercise arrived at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, on the 1st of December.

Once settled in at this station, the members of the Division were given leave to go home and visit their families for the Christmas holiday. Corporal Reeves made plans to marry his long-time sweetheart, Neenie Cotz, before being sent overseas. Their wedding date was set for January 19, 1944.

When Alfred and returned to Camp Kilmer on January 4, he was alerted for overseas movement and restricted to the base until the date of departure, which was classified. The Division boarded their troop transport ship and departed New York harbor on January 18, the day before Reeves' planned wedding. The Division arrived in England on January 26.

After several months of training in Wales and southern England, the men of the 12th Infantry Regiment were ready for battle. Assigned to the VII Corps, U.S. First Army, on the evening of June 4 the men boarded a transport for the trip across the English Channel to France. After leaving port and beginning the cross-channel journey, the ship turned around and returned. A weather delay had forced a one-day postponement.

4th Infantry Division soldiers on Utah Red Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

The next evening they set sail, and on the morning of June 6, the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division were the first surface-borne Allied troops to step foot in Normandy. The 12th Regiment was right alongside them. These soldiers were the tip of the spear on Utah Beach.

After relieving the 82nd Airborne Division at the town of Sainte Mere-Eglise, the 4th Division took part in isolating and then clearing the Cotentin Penisula. Then, along with the 9th and 79th Divisions, they forced the surrender of the port of Cherbourg on June 28.

  
4th Division soldiers establishing communications (left) and on patrol during the battle for Cherbourg.

Up to this point, the Ivy Division had been in continuous action since D-Day and had suffered over 5.450 casualties, including over 800 dead. It was during this time of great attrition that Alfred Reeves was promoted to Sergeant and became a Platoon NCO in the 12th Regiment. The attrition rate would increase dramatically over the next month.

After a brief rest, where the men received new clothing, hot showers and their first warm meal in weeks, the 4th Division began its southern drive through the Normandy bocage, a countryside criss-crossed with hedgerows that created a hellish environment for the attacker. This was the beginning of a deadly nightmare for the U.S. First Army.

  
German Parachute Infantry defended the hedgerows with fierce determination and took a grim toll on the attackers.

The Germans defending these hedgerows were crack SS fanatics and highly skilled Parachute Infantryman. During this battle, movement was measured in yards and the casualty rate was high. It was during these hedgerow battles, near the town of Periers on July 7, that Brookline's Sgt. Alfred M. Reeves was killed in action. He was awarded a Bronze Star posthumously for his heroic actions on that day.

In late-July, news of Alfred's fate reached family, friends and neighbors in the community of Brookline. His death was listed in the daily casualty listing of the Post-Gazette on August 2. While his mother Mary, fiance Neenie, and brother Frederick (serving at that time in Rhode Island) mourned the passing of their loved one, another Gold Star appeared in the window of another neighborhood home, this time at 806 Brookline Boulevard.

The 12th Regiment of the 4th Division continued on after the death of Sgt. Alfred Reeves. At great cost in men and material, they eventually cleared the hedgerow country and participated in Operation Cobra, the breakout from Normandy. Between August 9 and 12, the regiment helped beat back the German counterattack at Mortain, Operation Luttich.

The regiment fought in five European campaigns through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.The 12th Regiment was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for valor in action at Luxembourg during the Battle of the Bulge and also the Belgian Fourragere. After Germany's surrender, the 12th Regiment, along with the rest of the 4th Division, returned to the United States on July 12, 1945.

The body of Brookline's Sergeant Alfred M. Reeves's was not returned to the United States. He was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Plot E, Row 16, Grave 22. Alfred Reeves' sacrifice is honored at this hallowed location along with that of another Brookline soldier, Pfc. Edward J. Napier.

* Written by Clint Burton: April 14, 2018 *

The Brookline War Memorial

Listed below are many of the sons of Brookline who gave their
lives to preserve freedom and contain aggression during
World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
General George S. Patton
 

World War I (1917-1919)

The World War I Memorial - Washington D.C.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

World War II (1941-1945)

The World War II Memorial - Washington D.C.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

Korean War (1950-1953)

Korean War Memorial - Washington D.C.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

Vietnam War (1965-1973)

Vietnam War Memorial - Washington D.C.

The Brookline Monument - The Cannon

<Brookline War Memorial> <> <Brookline History>