Dear Mrs. Ball   Thank you very much for copying your message to us.  We would very much like to send you information which will help you understand the circumstances of the death of your cousin, Bert H. Ray, who served in Company G, 222nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Rainbow Division and who was killed in action on January 25, 1945.   Will you let me know your USPS mailing address?  I will need  to send most of this information to you by regular mail.  For now, attached to this e-mail is a photo of your cousin which is being sent to you by a Rainbow Division veteran, Arthur N. "Art" Lee, Jr., who is providing this information to all of us.  He has asked that I send this and other information to you. Art Lee writes: The photo is printed on page 107 in the historical and pictorial review book 242D INFANTRY REGIMENT, 42D INFANTRY DIVISION, printed by the Army and Navy Publishing Company of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1944. We know, from primary source records, that Bert H. Ray was a member of Co. "G", 2nd Bn., 222nd Inf. Regt. and that he was killed in action (KIA) at Schweighausen, France on 25 January 1945. We know that on the day Ray was killed his unit, the 222nd Inf. Regt., was engaged in combat with the mission of "...containing and throwing back the German breakthrough in the Moder River Line at Ohlungen Forest, near Haguenau, in Alsace, France." In the 49 page after action report written about the events of the battle fought in the Ohlungen Forest, during the 3 day period 24-26 January 1945, the following, in part, is reported concerning Co. "G", 2nd Bn., 222nd Inf. Regt.:      -..........................................................-      "Sgt. Decaline [Co. "E", 2nd Bn., 222nd Inf. Regt.], whom Lt. Carroll [same company] had sent back earlier that night [night of 24-25 January 1945] to the 2nd Battalion Aid Station in Ohlungen, had gone first to the Battalion CP [Command Post] and at 2130 hours [9:30 P.M.] had reported the news of E Company's plight.  He said that about 150 Germans had broken through in the region of the firebreak.  Major Downard, seeing that he was excited and shocked from his wound, discounted his figure, and decided to send G Company, his reserve company, to close the gap and reestablish that part of the MLR [Main Line of Resistance].  So he ordered Capt. Jere F. Palmes to take his men up through the forest, to follow the creek that cuts off its southeastern corner, to cross the creek and to attack the Germans to the North.  If G Company had gone this way, it might have contacted E Company which had not yet withdrawn, and it might have helped check the flow of Germans through the firebreak.      But the breakthrough was already too well made to stop, and by the time G Company was on its way many - probably most - of the Germans who had come over were on their way eastward, after the retreating 2nd Platoon of F Company towards Schweighausen.  Evidently they meant to attack Schweighausen immediately, without waiting for their right to be secured by the taking of Uhlwiller and the high ground outside Ohlungen.  So when G Company failed to follow its assigned route - when instead of crossing the creek northward, it followed the south side of the creek northeastwards, out of the woods into the clearing that separates the neck from the body 0f the forest - they moved not upon that part of the enemy penetration they had been ordered to attack but on one equally, if not more, threatening.  And although they failed to accomplish their mission, they did much to stem the German advance upon Schweighausen.      Soon after 2200 [10:00 P.M.] G Company came out of the woods, the 3rd Platoon on the left, the 1st on the right, four scouts leading each platoon.  The rest of the company followed.  Because they could only see 150 yards ahead, they moved slowly across the clearing.  It was very quiet.  But when the 1st scouts reached the edge of the woods on the other side, they touched off a tremendous volley of fire.  Two of the scouts were killed, and shortly the advancing platoon were pinned down by what Capt. Palmes estimated to be four machine guns, twelve automatic weapons, and probably a company of riflemen.  Mortar fire zeroed in on them as they lay exposed in the snow.  They were at the complete mercy of the Germans whom they couldn't see, so Capt. Palmes ordered an attack.  As T/Sgt. Zigman Poskus stood up to lead his 3rd Platoon on, a mortar shell hit him directly in the back, but his men moved up, under the momentum of his courage, to gain shorter range on the Enemy.  To their right T/Sgt. Mike Viters [sic - Witers ... deceased 1961] led his 1st Platoon south of the corner of the woods; there they crawled into firing positions and poured flanking mortar and machine gun fire in on the Germans' left.  Both platoons, by moving forward, pulled the whole company out of a hopeless position to one where they were able to fight, from the open snow-covered field, for five hours.  They were in contact with no other unit, and they received no aid.  Shortly after midnight Battalion ordered two tanks to go up to "help get fire off G Company".  But the tanks never found them.  When at about 0500 [5:00 A.M.], the Enemy fire had dwindled, when the men and their arms were wet through from the snow, Capt. Palmes ordered them to withdraw to Ohlungen.  They brought back with them 4 dead and 19 wounded.  After the Battle of Ohlungen Forest had ended, the 222nd found 67 German dead in the neck of the forest, a large part of whom G Company had killed." Based on the aforegoing account, it would seem that one of those members of Co. "G" who were killed, was Bert H. Ray. The Department of the Army maintains an Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) on each individual from all branches of service who died while overseas during World War II. Each file contains such information as:   a.  Full Name of the Deceased.   b.  Army Serial Number.   c.  Grade.   d.  Home Address.   e.  Arm of Service.   f.  Date of Birth.   g.  Place of Death.   h.  Cause of Death.   i.  Date of Death.   j.  Date of Entry on Current Active Service.   k.  Emergency Addressee.   l.  Beneficiary.   m.  Investigation Made.   n.  Remarks The address to which to send a request for a copy of a person's IDPF is:     Army Casualty and Memorial Affairs Operation Center   U.S. Army Total Personnel Command   ATTN:  TAPC-PED-F   2461 Eisenhower Avenue   Alexandria, VA 22331-0482. As much as possible, the following information concerning the deceased should be included in one's request for a copy of the deceased's IDPF:   a. Full Name.   b. Grade.   c. Army Serial Number.   d. Date of Birth.   e. Date of Death.   f.  Place of Death.   g. Unit.   The following information concerning the person placing the request for a copy of the deceased's IDPF should be included in their letter:   a. Relationship, if any, to the Deceased.   b. Reason for the Request.   c. Full Name.   d. Mail Address.   c. Telephone Number.   e. E-mail address.