A moving ceremony attended by the former fiancé of a member of the 29th US Infantry Division who died shortly after the D-Day landings, has been held at Trebah Garden in Mawnan Smith.
SSgt Tom Cassidy had been among the Americans who left Trebah aboard LST 28 heading for northern France in June 1944. He was wounded on Omaha Beach and later killed in severe fighting on the outskirts of St Lo in Normandy on July 30, 1944.
At the time of his death, Tom had been engaged to Peternal Ziemann, who is now Peternal Head.
They met when he was billeted in Porthleven, where Mrs Head still lives.
Her recent visit to Trebah came about after Steve Lane, a member of World War Two Re-enactment South West, who also lives in Porthleven, discovered that Tom had departed from the garden.
He approached Trebah, wanting to organise a visit to the memorial of the 29th US Infantry Division.
Steve learned that a photograph of Tom had been missing from the infantry’s memorial page until recently when one was obtained from Mrs Head.
Members of the re-enactment group and Mrs Head went to Trebah last week, where she laid a bouquet of flowers in memory of Tom and his comrades, who she had got to know as close friends prior to the embarkation for the D-Day invasion.
The “short but moving” ceremony featured two honour guards with replica World War Two US Army M1 Garand rifles.
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