Geoffrey Cheney Ferris (1918 - 1943)

Born 6 Apr 1918 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut

Ancestors

Died 7 May 1943 at age 25 in Tunisia

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Biography

• 2nd Lieut., US Army, World War II

Sources

• findagrave

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_Barracks

Geoffrey Cheney Ferris was born on 8 April 1918, in New Haven, Connecticut. He was the youngest of four children born to Walter Lewis Ferris and Alice Josephine Cheney. Next to his photograph in his high school yearbook is printed "None but himself can be his parallel". Prior to joining the Army, Ferris joined the Connecticut National Guard as a private on 19 September 1940. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 24 February 1941, holding that grade until his separation on 4 December 1941. Ferris enlisted in the Army as a private on 23 January 1942, at Hartford, Connecticut. After Officer Candidate School Class 23–42 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and served as an artillery observer assigned to the 6th Battalion, 33rd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. On the morning of 6 May 1943, Lieutenant Ferris reported to Company E, 26th Infantry Regiment. Seeing that it was impossible to secure a suitable observation post in the area occupied by Company E, Lieutenant Ferris, carrying a field phone and wire reel, advanced several hundred yards beyond the front lines before being mortally wounded by enemy fire. He died the next day. Initially interred in Tunisia, he was re-interred at the Long Island National Cemetery in New York. Lieutenant Ferris was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions.