Honoring Newark's fallen: Staff Sergeant Harold D. Kirk (1913–1944)

Harold D. Kirk was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 18, 1913. He was the son of John Little Kirk and Emma Disert Kirk. Nicknamed Mike, he had three older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister. His family moved to Delaware sometime between 1915 and 1918. By 1930, the family had moved to the Foxden Farm north of downtown Newark.

Kirk worked as a farmhand and later as a florist after his family opened a new business, Kirk’s Flowers, around 1934, in the Lumbrook area of Newark. Kirk was living at 316 Capitol Trail in Newark when he was drafted. He was inducted into the U.S. Army in Camden, New Jersey, on April 14, 1941. He soon joined Company “A,” 191st Tank Battalion.

Kirk married Eleanor Rebecca Young, a nurse, on December 27, 1941. After training at sites nationwide — and transitioning to the M4 Sherman tank — Kirk’s unit shipped out for the Mediterranean theater on Feb. 28, 1943.

On Sept. 9, 1943, elements of the 191st Tank Battalion including Kirk’s company entered combat for the first time during landings at Paestrum, near Salerno, Italy. The battalion supported the drive north in that fall.

A 1944 letter of commendation to Sergeant Kirk from his commanding officer stated: “During the last three months, you have been a tank commander in a combat company and have done an outstanding job. Company ‘A’ has been materially aided in successfully accomplishing its missions because of your efficiency, quick thinking and ability.”

Kirk’s unit arrived at the Anzio beachhead on Jan. 31, 1944, where his crew claimed two German tanks knocked out during intense fighting, which quickly devolved to stalemate.

Sergeant Kirk was promoted to staff sergeant on April 26, 1944, and assumed the duty of platoon sergeant. The long-awaited breakout from the Anzio beachhead, beginning on May 23, 1944, proved extremely costly to the 191st Tank Battalion. According to the battalion history, Kirk’s tank experienced engine trouble and was returning to friendly lines when it ran into a group of German tanks. An enemy shell pierced his tank’s turret, killing Kirk and two members of his crew.

Unit records indicate with near certainty that Staff Sergeant Kirk was killed on May 23, 1944, the first day of the breakout, though officially, he died the following day. Kirk was initially buried in the U.S. military cemetery at Nettuno on June 8, 1944. After the war, he was reburied at the permanent cemetery at the same location, today known as the Sicily–Rome American Cemetery. He is also honored on Newark’s World War II memorial, at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, and at Ebenezer United Methodist Church Cemetery in Newark.

Staff Sergeant Kirk’s decorations include the American Defense Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Purple Heart.

The year after Staff Sergeant Kirk’s death, his widow Eleanor went on active duty with the Army Nurse Corps at Tilton General Hospital at Fort Dix, New Jersey, serving until 1946. She remarried and raised four children.