JOSEPH CARR DAVIS

The Citadel Class of:	1932	Click on photo to enlarge.
Cadet Company:	not available
Age:	35
Born:	11-Feb-10 in Georgia
Hometown:	Savannah, Georgia
Family:	John Patrick Davis (father), Catherine Carr Davis (mother); John W. Davis, Charles C. Davis, Frank (brothers); Louise H. Davis (wife), Linda Davis Evans (daughter)
Rank:	Lieutenant Colonel
Branch of Service:	United States Army
Service number:	O-323839
Entered the Service from:	Georgia
Function:	Battalion Commander
Battalion:	935th Field Artillery Battalion
Regiment:	–
Division:	– Headquarters
Unit:
Date of death:	19-Aug-45
Status:	DNB
Place of death:	Dornigheim, Germany
Spot:	not available
Awards:	Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster
Cemetery	Lorraine American Cemetery
Grave number:	Plot A Row 25 Grave 3
Biography:	LTC Davis commanded his battalion all the way from Oran to Germany where he died. He was an executive with Strachan Shipping Company in Savannah before his National Guard Battery was mobilized in 1940 in FDR’s famous Fishbowl drawing. His battalion was one of the first at Dachau. – Source: Davis Family He led the 935th Artillery Battalion from Oran to Dachua
Other information:	“On July 3, the battalion moved to the vicinity of Dornigheim, a few miles east of Frankfurt-am-Main. The unit’s mission was to operate a captured enemy material dump.The dump contained a great variety of equipment: a single-engine jet fighter, artillery pieces, artillery ammunition, aerial bombs and containers of various chemicals.We experienced heavy rains that ran into containers of metallic sodium. The reaction with water started a fire that got into the munitions and caused a powerful explosion that left a crater about 30 feet across and 10 feet deep. The proximity of the explosion to the headquarters building resulted in 14 fatalities and 25 injured. Our battalion commander, Lt. Col. Joseph C. Davis, was one of the six American soldiers killed, along with eight German volunteer firefighters from Dornigheim.” – Source: Guy Claybourn story, Palacios Beacon Online

Sources: American Battle Monuments Commission; The Citadel Archives & Museum; 1940 US Census, Eric Stewart ’89, Linda Evans

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