Private first class Ernest E. Solis 37702773 KIA

Private first class Ernest E. Solis 37702773 KIA US Army. Born 26 March 1925 in Colorado. He attended primary and high schools in Trinidad, Colorado, and entered military service on 29 July 1943, at the age of 18. He received his preliminary training at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and served overseas in a Military Police Platoon of the 119th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, U.S. Ninth Army. He took part in the Normandy Campaign in France when the Ninth Army captured Dieppe, LeHavre and Brest, and participated in the Rhineland Campaign and the action of the Ninth Army at Aachen. He also saw action in Belgium, Dusseldorf and the Battle of the Bulge, and made the Roer crossing. The final battle of his military career was the crossing of the Rhine River, where he lost his life as the objective was being accomplished. Private First Class Solis was killed in the line of duty on 24 March 1945, at the age of 19, in a battle area between Wesel and Duisburg, Germany. Posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal (PHM). He also earned the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) and Citation for heroic achievement during the period of 22-24 March 1945, when on traffic control duty under frequent shelling at a road near the site of his division’s crossing of the Rhine, he continued his important task of directing the movement of men and equipment until mortally wounded by shell fire. Ernest Solis was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfonso E. Solis, Sr., of Denver Colorado. He is also the brother of Corporal Alfonso E., Solis Jr. 37713070.

Source:

1- THE FIGHTING MEN OF Colorado – Asiatic-Pacific Theater World War Two – 1948

2- US Headstone and Interment records for US Military. 3- https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&cat=all&tf=F&q=Ernest+E.+Solis&bc=sd&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=6869729