Alfred Herman Behnke, Jr.

Americans of German ethnicity faced various kinds of discrimination in the first half of the 20th century, which is why many of them changed their names. This family did not. Alfred Sr., whose parents came to Philadelphia from Germany in 1879, was proud that his son carried the family name into war to oppose an evil empire and preserve liberty. 

Alfred Sr. married Freda Messersmith (aka Freda Marze) in 1910 and they had two daughters before moving to Miami for about three years after the Great War was over. That’s where Alfred Jr. was born. After returning north their second son, Harry, was born in 1924, but he lived only nine months, cut short by pertussis (whooping cough).

By the time of the 1930 census the girls had left the family home in Yeadon to get married. Alfred’s father was a salesman for a bakery, possibly the one started by a fellow German named Godfrey Keebler. (During the Depression that company began a relationship with the Girl Scouts, and today a Keebler division called Little Brownie Bakers is still licensed to produce their cookies. Sadly, there are no longer any Keebler facilities in Philadelphia.)

Young Alfred finished high school but tragedy struck in 1939 when his mother died of cancer. He worked for a while as an usher at the Yeadon Theater, then at a Reading Railroad freight yard in Chester. The call from Uncle Sam came to serve in the Army as of July 1, 1942. He eventually rose to Sergeant in Company E, 318th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division.

The division sailed for Scotland aboard SS Queen Mary on July 1, 1944 and began their push through France from Utah Beach on August 2. Moving southeast, they approached the city of Argentan by August 17 where a German division was dug in and heavily fortified. To take the town would be costly and the 318th was out in front.  This photo was taken on August 20 after the Germans set the town ablaze as they retreated, but Alfred had given his life in the thick of battle two days earlier. He was one of 129 who died  in that battle, 106 of whom were from the 318th Regiment.

An Army transport brought his body home in 1948 and his father ordered a military grave marker. There is a family gravestone next to his to remember his brother Harry, his mother, his father who died in 1960, and his grandfather, the German immigrant.

On August 27, 2016, the people of Argentan, France unveiled this monument in their town square, remembering each of the men who lost their lives to free their village. It reads, “In memory of the soldiers of the 80th U.S. Infantry Division who gave their lives for the liberation of Argentan, 18th-21st August, 1944.”