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"THE SECRETARY OF WAR DESIRES TO EXPRESS HIS DEEP REGRET THAT YOUR SON TECHNICAL SERGEANT JOSEPH GOPAN HAS BEEN REPORTED MISSING IN ACTION SINCE 20 DECEMBER IN LUXEMBORG IF FURTHER DETAILS OR OTHER INFORMATION IS RECEIVED YOU WILL BE PROMPTLY NOTIFIED"
DUNLOP ACTING THE ADJUTANT GENERAL

T/SGT Joseph Gopan was a Ranger who served with the 28th and 106th Infantry Divisions and taken prisoner on this date in 1944 while leading a patrol. He was liberated by the British at the end of the war.

I have just finished reading Bastogne the First Eight Days by S.L.A. Marshall. I went back and looked at the lines we had on the 15th and the deepest penetration of the Germans. People don't realize it was not all in Belgium. By my reading it would appear he was with the 28th when that happened.

Imagine coming home and finding this stuck in the door.
It happened all the time, I've talked with plenty of people over the years who found out their loved one was killed or MIA/POW through a telegram sitting on the doorstep...

I can confirm that you never forget anything, ever detail is frozen in you minds eye; the sounds, the reactions etc. My youngest uncle was lost in the last days of WWII.

My mother held off telling his parents about it, luckily he made it OK.

My wife's uncle was a Private in the 977th Field Artillery Battalion, Battery A. He was on board LST 282 waiting to land on the beaches of Southern France as part of Operation Dragoon when the ship was hit by a radio-controlled bomb. 21 men were killed and 71 wounded. Henry was among the missing and his body was never recovered. None of his family knew anything except Henry was missing. His mother always kept thinking he was still alive somewhere until the day she died. 60 years later, we finally found the story of LST 282. With help from the American Battle Monuments Commission, we were able to learn that his name is inscribed on the Tablets Of The Missing of the Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial in Draguignan, France. The Monuments Commission sent us a photo of the section of the Tablets with Henry's name. This was an interesting search, and we were finally able to tell his brother, my wife's father, exactly what happend to Henry.

I have all the cards and letters that Henry sent home from the day he left for boot camp until he was killed. I have been slowly scanning them into my computer so I can give copies to all the family.

On this date 73 years ago, T/Sgt Joseph Gopan, missing in action.

Thanks for sharing this with the G this tugs at my heart for some strange reason...

Battle of the Bulge plus 74 years Thought I would fire up the CCKW this AM in honor of those who fought in this battle and drive it outside to warm it up. The name on the drivers' door is my Uncle Joe, a Ranger T/SGT who was reported missing in action December 20, 1944.
Had he not been taken prisoner that day he would have received a Battlefield Commission.

Interesting but sad post Joel. My Dad was similar, his family thought he had been killed in the war. He was in a POW camp, and rescued by the British Army, and came to England. He wrote to his family in 1958 and told them he was still alive. An amazing man, what he went through makes him 10 times the man than what i am.

Ben Dover wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:11 am

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Battle of the Bulge plus 74 years Thought I would fire up the CCKW this AM in honor of those who fought in this battle and drive it outside to warm it up. The name on the drivers' door is my Uncle Joe, a Ranger T/SGT who was reported missing in action December 20, 1944.
Had he not been taken prisoner that day he would have received a Battlefield Commission.

This reminded me of my late father's role in the Battle of the Bulge.

We was with a Heavy Automotive Maintenance Company in Nancy France when they got news of the attack. His unit was ordered to drive all night to a motor pool/depot in the way of the German advance to take what they could, and destroy what they could not.

My Dad's vehicle was A G507 (either a WC-62 or WC-63) and when he got there, he was able to load up a tank engine. Turns out there were a lot of vehicles they could not move and not a lot of time to destroy them. The decision was made to pull the same part from every single vehicle and destroy those so the vehicles were useless; ended up being the distributor. His final recollection was hearing gunfire as his unit was pulling out.

While he had multiple brushes with death during his time in the Army, that was the closest he had ever been to actual combat

Uncle joe was liberated by the British the following May. Not too many comments about prison life, there were Turks imprisoned at that prison, one gave him an engraved brass ring made from a .50 Cal MG shell, a bone was used to etch it. I keep it locked up with the SS Ring he brought home. The best diet at the prison was mainly boiled potato peelings. I may have mentioned that the Germans put him to work on New Years Day 1945 in a warehouse full of dead German soldiers, the job was to prepare each soldier with a head, two arms and two legs in order that they be buried whole. The prison had some cattle and Uncle Joe told of sneaking thru the fence to get fresh milk to drink from a dirty can.
His preferred weapons were the Thompson SMG and the 2.36 rocket Launcher. I never once heard him mention he was a Ranger during his discussions with the GI veterans at Dow field or anywhere else. From what I have noticed, Rangers do not talk much about their exploits. he did mention leading a patrol thru the Seigfried Line a few weeks before the Army fought thru it. He was known to all his friends and customers as "Big Joe" and I was known as "Little Joe".

Nice one Joel, these are stories that we never hear about, and it isnt taught in educational history lessons. Have a great Christmas.

Remembering T/Sgt Joseph Gopan WWII US Army Ranger.
It is now Battle of the Bulge + 75 Years. Over the years, Uncle Joe was known as "Big Joe" and I was known as "Little Joe". When I was a toddler, I used to follow him like a lamb around our family business. He never complained about serving, and rarely let others know he was a Ranger or a POW even to the GI's who were our customers from Dow Field across the street. I have his Camp Forrest 2nd Army Ranger School Hand Books, class papers and RANGER Diploma, the Army has contacted me to make a copy for Ranger School archives.T/Sgt Gopan went from Private to T/Sgt in 6 months.

Uncle Joe's Dog Tags are hanging from the inside mirror of the CCKW. I always spend a few moments every New Years Day remenbering the question he asked me on New Years Day 1966.
"Do you know what I was doing 21 years ago today?" "I was in a big German warehouse giving dead German soldiers a head, two arms and two legs so that they could be buried whole".
I can't begin to imagine what went thru his mind while doing that.