Corporal Robert D. Lederer was born October 7, 1922 and died in Monroe, Connecticut on June 9, 2000. He was a member of the 557th Field Artillery. Corporal Lederer was wounded on April 10, 1945. The history for that unit shows that their column was attacked from the air on that date. A Robert D. Lederer is listed as being a Vietnam vet on Ancestry.com. It is not known if this is the same person.
His medal group includes his privately engraved slot brooch Purple Heart, Dogtags, engraved silver bracelet, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Medal, American Campaign Medal, European Campaign Medal with 4 stars, Victory Medal with one star, and a bar mounted set of mini medals.
A total of six field artillery battalions were equipped with the M12 mobile 155mm GMC in the summer of 1944: the 557th, 558th, 981st, 987th, 989th and 991st Field Artillery Battalions. Besides the M12 155mm GMC, the battalions also received the M30 Cargo Carrier. A total of 81 M30s were deployed in France which were similar to the M12, except they lacked the rear gun and rear spade, being used to carry ammunition for the guns. The first two M12 battalions were deployed during the Normandy campaign, and the others soon followed. Although they were nominally under corps command, it became common practice to deploy the battalions in support of armoured divisions which made better use of their mobility.
The unit history for the 557 can be found here:
http://www.seemyaccount.com/558thfab/docs/wwii%2055
SOLS to a collector 04-2021
