{"id":9791,"date":"2024-09-05T13:53:17","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T13:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=9791"},"modified":"2025-02-21T16:47:44","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T16:47:44","slug":"lemuel-dent-jr-buffalo-soldier-killed-in-wwii-reinterred-with-military-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2024\/09\/05\/lemuel-dent-jr-buffalo-soldier-killed-in-wwii-reinterred-with-military-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"Lemuel Dent Jr., Buffalo Soldier Killed in WWII, Reinterred with Military Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Staff Sgt. Chazz Kibler<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The remains of PFC Lemuel Dent Jr., killed in WWII during the Italian campaign, was
reinterred with military honors at Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery on Sept. 5, 2024.
Dent, an African American, enlisted in the Army in 1942 in Pennsylvania and was assigned to
Company L, 3rd Battalion, 366th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division, nicknamed the Buffalo
Soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that time, the U.S. Army was segregated despite increasing pressure to open enlistment to the African American population. In the spring of 1942, the 92nd and 93rd Divisions became the first all-Black U.S. infantry divisions, although it would take almost two years afterward before the 366th Regiment would be staffed entirely by Black officers. The 92nd finally deployed to Italy in October 1944 and the 366th was initially assigned security duty of Air Force installations across Italy. During their time as security forces, they built relationships with allied troops and exchanged cultural pastimes. For example, they taught South Africans to play softball in return for lessons in rugby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November, the 366th rejoined the 92nd Division under the Fifth Army, with the mission to exert
pressure on the enemy in the area they occupied and protect the Fifth Army’s left flank. The
92nd held the 20-mile-wide line from the Ligurian Sea to Barga, located in the Serchio Valley of
northern Italy. In February, the Buffalo Soldiers prepared for a coordinated limited attack to seize several areas of high ground nearby occupied by the enemy. The main inland offensive began on Feb. 4, while the 92nd\u2019s coastal attack began the night of Feb. 7. The 366th, located on the coast, was
to move north along the coast from Forte dei Marmi, cross the Cinquale Canal, turn inland to
Highway 1 and conduct a frontal assault across 20 miles of the 92nd Division\u2019s zone.
Dent\u2019s 3rd Battalion, along with Company C, 760th Tank Battalion, a platoon of tank destroyers
from the 701st Tank Destroyer Battalion; and the 27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 1st
Armored Division made up Task Force 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldiers of the 3rd Battalion rode the tanks up the coast as planned, but when they reached the canal, two tanks struck landmines, disabling them and blocking the path of the following tanks. Some tanks attempted to cross a field to reach the highway but also struck mines. Enemy machine gunners and mortarmen then opened fire on the 366th. Although most of the tanks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

finally crossed the canal, they did not reach the highway and on Feb. 11, the attack was called off. The 72-hour battle did not move the lines significantly, but it cost the 366th Battalion 220 men, among them PFC Dent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be April before the area came under the control of the Allies, and the casualties could be buried. Dent\u2019s remains were recovered on May 5, 1945, unidentified except as a Buffalo Soldier due to the location of where he had fallen. They were interred in the Florence American Cemetery in Italy until exhumed by the Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission in June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that time, Dent\u2019s relatives had uploaded his information onto Ancestry.com. This information led the Commission to conclude that the remains of X-124 belonged to Lemuel Dent. In February 2024, Dent\u2019s nearest relatives were contacted, and arrangements were made for PFC Lemuel Dent, Jr. to reinter him near his family in Cheltenham. At first, the relatives did not realize the significance of this reinternment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mayvee Smith, president of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 233, the family did not want any ceremony. Afterward, one of the cousins remarked on how astonished they were that so many people had come. The Reverand Dr. Ruby M. Brown officiated the memorial service. Cousins, nephews, and nieces of Dent, as well as American Legion units from the area, members of the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, and Maj. Gen. Janeen Birckhead, the Maryland National Guard adjutant general, paid their respects at the service.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Staff Sgt. Chazz Kibler The remains of PFC Lemuel Dent Jr., killed in WWII during the Italian campaign, wasreinterred with military honors at Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery on Sept. 5, 2024.Dent, an African American, enlisted in the Army in 1942 in Pennsylvania and was assigned toCompany L, 3rd Battalion, 366th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division,  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":9804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9791"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9818,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9791\/revisions\/9818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}