Oscar Cleveland Littlejohn was the third child of Thomas Walker Littlejohn and Minnie Dunlap Littlejohn. Cleveland as he was called, grew up in a family with an older brother, Arlis and a sister, Dorothy. Their mother Minnie died of tuberculosis in March 1928, Cleveland was only four years when his mother passed away ... At times both Cleveland and his brother lived in Blue Springs with their grandparents J.P. and Lula Dunlap ... His father remarried twice, which in the end added 10 halfbrothers and sisters to Cleveland's family ... Most of them would never know their brother Cleveland, other than from people's stories ...

Cleveland, his brother Arlis and his sister Dorothy were the ninth generation of Littlejohns, traced back to John Littlejohn and his wife Ann Murray. John was the county steward for Fife County, Scotland near Aberdeen. John and Ann's son, Oliver Littlejohn was born about 1660 in Scotland and is believed to have emigrated from Fife County, Scotland to Virginia about 1682.

His enlistment records state that Cleveland worked as an automobile serviceman at the time he was drafted for the Army, however this information in not confirmed. Cleveland was drafted into the military on December 30, 1943 and was sent to Camp Shelby, MS, for his basic training. From there he went to Camp Blanding, FL in Feb. 1944, where he was in Company D, 196th BN 61St Reg.

He was married while in Florida to a girl by the name of U.V. Shettles on May 14, 1944. At that time Cleveland was 19 years old, she was only 16. Shortly thereafter, Cleveland was sent overseas to Europe where he was assigned to the 39th Infantry Regiment ("the Fighting Falcons") of the 9th Infantry Division, "the Old Reliable".

The 9th Infantry Division was at war long before Cleveland joined the ranks ... "The Old Reliable" saw its first combat in the North African invasion (Operation Torch), 8 November 1942, when its elements landed at Algiers, Safi, and Port Lyautey, with the taking of Safi by the 3rd Battalion of the 47th Infantry Regiment standing as the first liberation of a city from Axis control in WWII. On 28 March 1943 it launched an attack in southern Tunisia and fought its way north into Bizerte, 7 May. In August the 9th landed at Palermo, Sicily, and took part in the capture of Randazzo and Messina.

After returning to England for further training, the Division hit Utah Beach on 10 June 1944 (D plus 4), cut off the Cotentin Peninsula, drove on to Cherbourg and penetrated the port's heavy defences. After a brief rest in July 1944, the Division took part in the St. Lo break-through and in August helped close the Falaise Gap. Turning east, the 9th crossed the Marne, 28 August 1944, swept through Saarlautern. Around or shortly after this time, Cleveland joined "the Old Reliable" ... On September 7, 1944 Cleveland wrote a letter to his uncle ... He clearly recalls the fact that he was picking cotton in earlier years and the letter shows that he wasn't very fond of it ...

In October 1944 the course of battle at Germeter swayed back and forth. During the night of 9 October 1944, the enemy had infiltrated between the two left platoons of the Company J and the remainder of 3rd Battalion. This cut off the platoons, killing, wounding, or capturing all but a few. To re-establish the push, it was necessary to clear out fanatical Nazis in house-to-house fighting. In the following days the 9th Infantry Division succeeded to drive the Germans back to fight on their own soil. The Siegfriedline had been cracked ...

Now fighting on his own soil the enemy soldier was ordered, and inspired by his leaders to hold on tenaciously and counter-attack vigorously. With terrain to their advantage, the Germans held on, delaying the advance in the Germeter-Vossenack sector ... Threatening to flood the dams ... attacking lines of communication ... By October 16, 1944 the attack of the 9th Infantry Division to gain control of the Roer Dams had reached an impasse ... Only a day later Cleveland wrote a letter to his brother, he never knew it was going to be his last one ... Shortly after writing this letter, on the same day, 19 year old Cleveland Littlejohn was killed in action, thousands of miles away from home, from his wife and family ...

A daughter says father Littlejohn took to bed after hearing of his son's death. This impressed her because her father was a strong man, and this was so out of character for him. Grief could not last forever because there were nine other children at home to provide for. After the war, Thomas W. Littlejohn bought a farm near Eupora, MS. In November of 1948 he kept working in the field with pneumonia. He was hospitalised and died ...

These days Cleveland Littlejohn rests in the beautiful American Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle ... He is remembered and honored by his nephew Thomas Littlejohn, his neice Shelby Barret, by his entire family, by everyone who visits the Henri-Chapelle cemetery and everyone who visits the In Honored Glory website.

Special thanks to Cleveland's nephew Thomas Littlejohn, to his neice Shelby Barrett and to everyone else who contributed to this story and thus in keeping Cleveland's legacy alive and preserved for future generations.