Dennis McKeen was born on April 22nd, 1921 in Ashland, 0hio.  He enlisted in the Army on 20 January 1942.  At the time, McKeen was a student and living at 1840 West Michigan Ave. in Battle Creek, Michigan.  Before he shipped to Europe, he married his fiancé Clara on 26 February 1943, and he fathered a daughter, Mary-Ann.

Private McKeen belonged to the Company C of the 85th Reconnaissnace Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.  On January 3rd, 1945, in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge, McKeen was seriously wounded in his stomach by German small arms fire.  He was placed on a jeep and sent toward the aid station at Bizory, but died en route.  German artillery attacked the jeep before it arrived at the aid staion.  His body was last seen at the side of the road where the jeep had been attacked, and he is now listed on the Wall of the Missing at the Ardennes American Cemetery.

McKeen’s story inspired the Robert Remacle to sculpt the Eagle Monument at the Mardasson Memorial in Bastogne.

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Information provided by Robert Remacle