Sgt. Delmar Lybarger 37692990

Sergeant Delmar “Dad” Franklin Lybarger 37692990 was born on October 21, 1918, in Moline, Illinois. He was the son of George Albert Lybarger and Kathe Elisabeth Margaretha Schmalhaus. He married Joyce Dorthea Goetsch on April 12, 1942, in Davenport City, Iowa. They had two children during their marriage. He entered the US Army on March 27, 1944 at the age of 25. He entered 4th Platoon Company K, 253^rd Infantry Regiment, 63^rd Infantry Division on May 12, 1944 at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. He went overseas on November 25, 1944 at the age of 26. His nick name in K Company was Dad. He served in the campaigns of RHINELAND, ARDENNES-ALSACE, and CENTRAL EUROPE.

On April 12, 1945 was his 3rd wedding anniversary it was also K Company’s worse day of fighting during the war. Thursday morning April 12, 1945 3^rd Battalion 253^rd Infantry Regiment was advancing southeast of the town of Lampoldhousen, Germany with  I/253 on the left K/253 in the middle and L/253 on the Right. K/253 was going down the middle for a frontal attack against the high hill near Lampoldhousen, Germany. K/253 was being led by 3 tanks from the 753^rd Tank Battalion. As they approached the hill the Germans opened fire, and the 3 tanks turned and hid behind another hill. Over the last week while fighting with the 253^rd Infantry Regiment, the 753^rd Tank Battalion had suffered heavy casualties do to the panzerfaust, therefore it makes since that they took protection. The advance was slowed down by machine gun, rifle, and snipers fire. As they slowly moved forward PFC Eugene B. Reich could see, from his vantage point, many dead and wounded. One that stood out to him the most was an American Medic who had a bullet hole in the middle of the Red Cross on his helmet. A machine gun nest about 20 yards away had 4^th Platoon, K/253 pinned down the company. Crouched close to PFC Reich was PFC Murray Moore, one of the Platoon leaders ( the Platoon leader was either LT Sloop or LT. LeJeune) and the Company Commander 1st Lt. William Kirchoff (who had recently taken command of the company after Capt. Lytton had been wounded at Mockmuhl) . Lt. Kirchoff ordered  the Platoon leaders (Lt. Sloop or LT. LeJeune) to take his men and go knock out the machine gun nest. The Platoon leaders (Lt. Sloop or LT. LeJeune) told his squad leaders to get his men together for the assault. The Lt. and Sgt. had just cleared the top of the bank, and both were wounded by mortar, and artillery fire.

The Sgt. made it back to the draw, the Lt. laid wounded about 20 feet away. At this point PFC Reich “became angry at Lt. Kirchoff. We needed a tank to help us get the machine gun nest. I went back to find the tank commander. I then climbed on his tank and pointed my 45 pistol between his eyes and offered him his one chance to survive the war. He moved his tank up and knocked out the machine gun.” Then PFC Reich gave his light machine gun to Sergeant Delmar Lybarger. Sergeant Lybarger covered PFC Reich advance. Sergeant Lybarger was firing the light machine gun from the hip, and continued firing and loading the gun himself. PFC Reich made his way up the forward slope of a hill, “destroyed the first hostile gun with a grenade, killing two Germans and wounding one. He moved across open ground, to a second machine gun position and annihilated it in a similar manner, killing two more of the enemy.” According to PFC Reich “Afterward I crawled up to the German machine gun nest, pulled the pin on my hand grenade, counted to three and dropped it into the nest. The next thing I remember was seeing human body parts falling back into the nest. I’m amazed that I could accomplish all this without getting a scratch.” After taking out the German machine gun nests Reich “skillfully rescued and evacuated a wounded officer” (either LT Sloop or LT. LeJeune). PFC “Reich then carried sorely needed ammunition to his platoon across seventy-five yards of fire-swept terrain.” After covering PFC Reich, Sgt. Lybarger then, upon returning to a nearby road, crawled one hundred yards under sniper fire to carry a wounded aid man to safety. This was accomplished after two men had been wounded in attempting to rescue the wounded aid man.

Sgt. Lybarger returned to the United states on September 27, 1945. He was discharged on December 6, 1945. He was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Silver Star Medal, the Bronze Star Medal, The American Theater of operations, the European Theater of Operations Medal ETO with 2 battle star, the Good Conduct Medal, the World War Two Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal. He died on October 1, 2010, in Davenport City, Iowa, at the age of 91, and was buried in Rock Island, Illinois.

Sources:

1- 63rd Infantry Division Records

2- Quad City Times Davenport Iowa March 29, 1942 Page 12

3- https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&cat=all&tf=F&q=37692990&bc=sl,sd&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=6860133

4- Iowa, U.S., World War II Bonus Case Files, 1947-1954

5- Photographs from William Koellner on ancestry

6- Davenport veterans receive medals for heroics and bravery qctimes.com 23 Dec 04