Lieutenant James L. Mulcahey
1st Lt. Mulcahey was a popular teacher and coach in his hometown prior to the war. Drafted in 1942, Mulcahey was killed in action near Mt. Bibele, Italy on October 2, 1944 while serving with the 339th Infantry. Built in 1957, the school is named in his honor.
The 85th Infantry Division
The 85th Infantry Division was the second all-draftee infantry division to see combat in World War II. The division was named after George Armstrong Custer, a native of Michigan where the division was activated in 1917 for service during World War I. Re-activated at Camp Shelby, Mississippi in May 1942 the division trained at Camp Shelby, in nearby DeSoto National Forest, in the swamps of Louisiana, and at Camps Coxcomb and Pilot Knob at the Desert Training Area in California. In December 1943 and January 1944 the Custer Division was shipped overseas and landed in North Africa where the division went into further training in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and then at the Invasion Training Center on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In March 1944, the division's forward elements arrived in Italy and went into the line near Minturno. The division was officially in action as a complete unit on April 14, 1944. From that point on, the 85th Infantry Division was one of Fifth Army's premier fighting divisions and contributed directly to the capture of Rome, the destruction of the German "Gothic Line" in the North Apennines, and the closure of the Brenner Pass in the Italian Alps. At the close of hostilities, the Custer Division performed redeployment duties in Italy until ordered to return to the United States where it was deactivated on August 26, 1945.
Honor Our Fallen Heroes
The website linked below explains the history of the effort to honor our fallen heroes in our overseas cemeteries.
If you click on the link "Fields of Honor" a Windows Media program will play a movie detailing the efforts of the American Battlefield Monuments Commission to remember their sacrifices:
American Battle Monuments Commission