Neil Hunter Cline was the youngest child of Junius Lester Cline and his wife Bessie Watts. His siblings were Troy B, Mamie Hinnant, Elsie Adams, William C, Ola Fuller and Julia Edwards.
Neil was single, with dependents, a high school graduate, and working as a clerk at Carolina Rim and Wheel, Charlotte, NC, when he was drafted on 23 Nov 1942 at Camp Croft, South Carolina. Served in I Company, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Allied invasion of Occupied Europe during WWII. He was mortally wounded in action. Serial #34591353.
"Cline and 5 other paratroopers in Company I fought for 33 days without relief or replacement in Normandy. His mother reported that he was killed in the Battle of the Belgium Bulge. Paratroopers had jumped into a spot a day or so early to scout. They set up camp in an abandoned house. Neil was hit in the head by shrapnel. He was unconscious for 3 days before he died.
He was buried in Belgium, and his grave was "adopted" by a local Belgium girl.
A memorial service was held at the Tenth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte on 3-11-1945.
In 1947 his remains were shipped home, along with 6000 other servicemen. Before the memorial ceremonies in NY, an officer stepped forward and pointed to one of the bronze coffins. Cline became the Unknown Soldier that day in the processional before a quarter of a million people in New York City. His body was returned to Charlotte and he was the first soldier buried in the then new Evergreen Cemetery."
Neil was single, with dependents, a high school graduate, and working as a clerk at Carolina Rim and Wheel, Charlotte, NC, when he was drafted on 23 Nov 1942 at Camp Croft, South Carolina. Served in I Company, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Allied invasion of Occupied Europe during WWII. He was mortally wounded in action. Serial #34591353.
"Cline and 5 other paratroopers in Company I fought for 33 days without relief or replacement in Normandy. His mother reported that he was killed in the Battle of the Belgium Bulge. Paratroopers had jumped into a spot a day or so early to scout. They set up camp in an abandoned house. Neil was hit in the head by shrapnel. He was unconscious for 3 days before he died.
He was buried in Belgium, and his grave was "adopted" by a local Belgium girl.
A memorial service was held at the Tenth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte on 3-11-1945.
In 1947 his remains were shipped home, along with 6000 other servicemen. Before the memorial ceremonies in NY, an officer stepped forward and pointed to one of the bronze coffins. Cline became the Unknown Soldier that day in the processional before a quarter of a million people in New York City. His body was returned to Charlotte and he was the first soldier buried in the then new Evergreen Cemetery."
Neil Hunter Cline was the youngest child of Junius Lester Cline and his wife Bessie Watts. His siblings were Troy B, Mamie Hinnant, Elsie Adams, William C, Ola Fuller and Julia Edwards.
Neil was single, with dependents, a high school graduate, and working as a clerk at Carolina Rim and Wheel, Charlotte, NC, when he was drafted on 23 Nov 1942 at Camp Croft, South Carolina. Served in I Company, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Allied invasion of Occupied Europe during WWII. He was mortally wounded in action. Serial #34591353.
"Cline and 5 other paratroopers in Company I fought for 33 days without relief or replacement in Normandy. His mother reported that he was killed in the Battle of the Belgium Bulge. Paratroopers had jumped into a spot a day or so early to scout. They set up camp in an abandoned house. Neil was hit in the head by shrapnel. He was unconscious for 3 days before he died.
He was buried in Belgium, and his grave was "adopted" by a local Belgium girl.
A memorial service was held at the Tenth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte on 3-11-1945.
In 1947 his remains were shipped home, along with 6000 other servicemen. Before the memorial ceremonies in NY, an officer stepped forward and pointed to one of the bronze coffins. Cline became the Unknown Soldier that day in the processional before a quarter of a million people in New York City. His body was returned to Charlotte and he was the first soldier buried in the then new Evergreen Cemetery."
Neil was single, with dependents, a high school graduate, and working as a clerk at Carolina Rim and Wheel, Charlotte, NC, when he was drafted on 23 Nov 1942 at Camp Croft, South Carolina. Served in I Company, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Allied invasion of Occupied Europe during WWII. He was mortally wounded in action. Serial #34591353.
"Cline and 5 other paratroopers in Company I fought for 33 days without relief or replacement in Normandy. His mother reported that he was killed in the Battle of the Belgium Bulge. Paratroopers had jumped into a spot a day or so early to scout. They set up camp in an abandoned house. Neil was hit in the head by shrapnel. He was unconscious for 3 days before he died.
He was buried in Belgium, and his grave was "adopted" by a local Belgium girl.
A memorial service was held at the Tenth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte on 3-11-1945.
In 1947 his remains were shipped home, along with 6000 other servicemen. Before the memorial ceremonies in NY, an officer stepped forward and pointed to one of the bronze coffins. Cline became the Unknown Soldier that day in the processional before a quarter of a million people in New York City. His body was returned to Charlotte and he was the first soldier buried in the then new Evergreen Cemetery."
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