Name:                                                  ROBERT JOSEPH La BOMBARD

            Hometown per military records:                      Vergennes

            Date of Birth:                                       May 22, 1923 @ Vergennes, VT

            High School:                                        Vergennes High School

            Entered military service at:                  Rutland, VT

            Entered military service on:                 December 26, 1942

            Rank:                                                   Private First Class

            Army serial number:                            31252967

            Unit:                                                    10^th Mountain Division

                                                                        87^th Mountain Regiment

                                                                        1^st Battalion

                                                                        Company B

            Missing In Action:                               April 19, 1945

            Killed In Action:                                  April 19, 1945 at Casa Silvestri ( building) near

Mt. S. Pietro, Italy (Location shown as “Casa

Sinastre” on Bronze Star citation.)

            Buried:                                                 St. Peter’s Cemetery, Vergennes, VT

            Medals:                                                            (2) Purple Hearts, Bronze Star (Pfc LaBombard

                                                                        was also injured in the attack on Attu in the

                                                                        Aleutian Islands as a member of HQ, 1^st

                                                                        Battalion.

            On local WWII monument?                 Unknown

            Age:                                                     22

            Details of death:                                  Sniper shot to the head.

Award of Bronze Star, Posthumous

ROBERT LaBOMBARD, 31252967, Private First Class, Infantry, 87^th Mountain Infantry, United   States Army. For meritorious service in combat on 19 April 1945, near Casa Sinastre, Italy.

Per History of the 87^th Mountain Infantry by Captain George F. Earle: (page 99)

“After a halt for breath, the company moved down into a deep valley in the direction of C. Silvestri. Sniper fire, which had bothered the company all afternoon, finally took effect, Private First Class ROBERT J. LaBOMBARD was shot through the head.”

According to his Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) , PFC LaBombard went Missing In Action on April 19, 1945. One statement was filed (probably in April of 1945) regarding his MIA status.

            1^st SGT Lloyd P. Wick: “I certify that I saw Pfc Robert J. LaBombard, 31252967, killed

            by an enemy sniper at about 1630 19 April 1945 on first high ridge south of Silvestri at

            coordinates 714412 about 400 yards southeast of summit of C il Poggio.”

LaBombard’s IDPF file contains the following note that helps to explain his MIA status for the month that he was missing:

            “Disinterred on 13 May 1945 from an isolated grave at grid coord. 712413. Sh. 87,III

            N.E. 1:25,000, Monteveglio, Italy by T/3 E. S. Champion, Serv. Co., 87^th Mt. Inf. Reg’t.

            Reburied 15 May 1945 in U.S. Mil. Cem. At Mirandola, Italy in Plot E, Row 5, Grave

            632”

            His remains were eventually returned to Vergennes. Because he worked in the defense

            industry, it is possible that he would have used that angle to avoid military service but he instead chose to joint the Army.