8/23/1944
Technical Sergeant James H. Eberle was born 29 November 1915 in Lincoln, Illinois to Harry and Hazel Brown Eberle. After graduating high school in 1933, he attended Lincoln College for approximately two years before working as an electric utility draftsman in his hometown. He married Mildred Jelken on 3 February 1939. James Eberle was drafted into the Army in April 1942; he was offered the choice of becoming a glider pilot or a Bomb Disposal expert. In the fall of 1942, he was assigned to the Bomb School at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. After graduating in 1943 he assigned to the 151st Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad and deployed to Italy.
On 23 August of 1944, the 151st Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad was operating in Italy when T/Sgt James Eberle and another T/Sgt were called to a farmers field to clear a landmine. T/Sgt Eberle and the unknown T/Sgt were attempting to render safe the landmine when it detonated. He was listed as killed in action and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal.
T/Sgt Eberle was initially survived by his wife Mildred Eberle, daughter Margaret, mother Hazel Brown Eberle, father Harry Eberle, brother Dick Eberle, and sister Marian Eberle. Today he is survived by his daughter Margaret Lauterjung and sister Marian Eberle Athens.