Monongahela’s youngest fallen WWII soldier died a hero

This story is part of Mon Valley Sons of World War II, a series about our sons who lost their lives in service to our country during the war.

By JOHN J. TURANIN
For the MVI

Eighteen-year-old Hugh Dingle had been in combat less than two months and was now in Germany. But his instincts were sharp. Faced with an encroaching enemy squad, he remained hidden until the precise moment gave him the advantage.

Private First Class Dingle ambushed the squad, killing seven enemy soldiers and capturing four single-handedly.

Later that same day, Pfc. Dingle was cut down by an artillery shell. He only needed to survive eight more days until Germany surrendered.

The Dingle and Gray families

Hugh Dingle was born on Oct. 2, 1926, to John Raymond Dingle Sr. and Agnes Gray in Monongahela. John worked as a boiler repairman for a local coal company while Agnes managed the Dingle family household.

John Raymond Dingle’s father was born in England and immigrated to the United States in the 1890s. His mother’s heritage dates back to the British colony of Pennsylvania, before the American Revolutionary War. Agnes Gray and her family immigrated to the U.S. from Scotland in 1907.

Both families settled in Western Pennsylvania along the Monongahela River, where coal mining offered plentiful employment.

Public records of a marriage between John Raymond and Agnes have not been found. However, according to Agnes’ brother, Andrew Gray, John Raymond deserted the family after the birth of John Raymond Jr. (also known as “Cubby”) in 1924 and before the birth of Hugh in 1926. By 1934, he remarried, this time to Helen Koval, and they gave birth to Hugh’s half-siblings Patricia (born 1934), Stella (1936), Melvin (1937), Carolyn (1942) and Dorothy (1946) while living in nearby Fayette County.

After the Dingles separated, Hugh and John Jr. went to live with Agnes’ brother, Andrew Clark Gray and Merle Gladys (née Everly) in the Black Diamond coal mining community up river from central Mon City. Andrew was an electrical engineer in a local steel mill.

Agnes eventually remarried, this time to John Pavalok, and John Jr. went to live with his birth mother while Hugh remained with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Merle Gray. Hugh would soon be known by friends and family as “Hughie” or “Scotchie.”

In March 1934, Andrew and Merle Gray fostered another child. Gladys Gray, the wife of Andrew’s brother Hugh, contracted sepsis while giving birth to their son Zane, and she passed away eight days later. The generous couple Andrew and Merle Gray adopted Zane, the half-cousin to Hugh Dingle and John Dingle Jr.

In 1938, Hugh performed in “The Signs of the Ages” for the annual Good Friday Pageant at the Black Diamond Mission. Hugh left high school after two years and entered the workforce at the Corning Glass plant and later as a truck driver for Black Diamond Bottle Exchange. Hugh’s birth mother, Agnes, died suddenly in 1939 from acute gastroenteritis. John Jr. joined Hugh living with their aunt and uncle.

Global war unfolds

The citizens of Mon City monitored the burgeoning wars overseas. Germany had long been executing the “Third Reich” political-military strategy of its Fuhrer Adolph Hitler. They entered alliances with the like-minded leaders of Italy and Japan. By the end of 1940, Germany had invaded Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Pursuing its own empire-building aspirations, Italy had expanded into Ethiopia, Albania, and was invading France by 1940. Japan had assumed control over Korea from the Soviets in 1905, but by 1940, Japan had invaded China and French Indochina.

Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the U.S. military bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. The U.S. declared war on Japan, and as an ally of the Japanese Empire, Germany declared war on the U.S. Hugh’s brother John volunteered to serve and joined the U.S. Marine Corps in September 1942. After training, he was assigned to the Fourth Marines and shipped to the Pacific Theater in January 1944.

Hughie’s white lie

Seeing his brother volunteer for the Marines, Hugh was motivated to do his part in the war. On Jan. 22, 1944, Hugh registered for the U.S. armed forces draft. But instead of listing his real date of birth as Oct. 2, 1926, he wrote Jan. 22, 1926. That date incorrectly showed that he was of draft age 18 on the day he registered. The draft clerk probably wished him a happy birthday.

But Hugh was actually 17 years and three months old. Seventeen- year-olds were permitted to register for the draft with parental permission, and he would not have needed to register with a false date of birth. How this went down with his foster parents is left to the imagination.

Hugh’s draft card noted that he was a 5-foot 7-inch, 150-pound, 18-year-old with brown hair and blue eyes. Hugh was drafted four months after registering, and he arrived at the U.S. Army induction center in New Cumberland, Pa., on May 6, 1944, reporting to the 3384th Service Unit.

Private Hugh Dingle set off May 13, 1944, with 68 other recruits to the Army Service Force Training Center (Medical) at Camp Barkeley, Texas. They arrived four days later, and Pvt. Dingle was assigned to Company D of the 70th Medical Training Battalion as a driver of 2 1⁄2-ton trucks. By October, he was transferred to the 71st Medical Training Battalion of the 16th Medical Training Regiment.

According to the local newspaper, Hugh Dingle had been promoted to the rank of corporal, but when he requested a transfer to the infantry instead of driving a truck, his rank was returned to private.

He was sent to Camp Gordon in Georgia, for further training while awaiting orders to be deployed. Hugh received a furlough home to visit his family for a week in February before heading to Fort George Meade in Maryland to prepare for departure.

Dingle heads to war

Pvt. Dingle left for Europe on Feb. 28, 1945. He first arrived in England, where he spent four days before being shipped to France. He was to be assigned as a replacement infantryman to Company B, 254th Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division.

The 254th Regiment had arrived in Marseilles, France, three months earlier in December 1944. The unit was attached to the 3rd Infantry Division that was operating under the command of the French Army. The 254th was transported northeast to Alsace, France, where they finally entered the ongoing combat in Colmar Pocket in January. The fighting reached its crescendo at the Battle of Jebsheim, and the 254th and the Allied forces emerged victorious on Jan. 29, 1945. The regiment continued moving northeast toward the German border.

Dingle, now a private first class, caught up with the 254th while it was still in France in mid-to-late March 1945. At that time, the regiment was poised to strike at the onerous German defensive perimeter known as the Siegfried Line, a 390-mile wall of 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps.

Pfc. Dingle likely joined the attack near the town of Ensheim. The 254th Regiment was the first of the 7th Army to break through the Siegfried Line after five days of fighting and crossed the border.

Combat in Germany

Pfc. Dingle and his fellow infantrymen fought across southern Germany in fierce skirmishes. But the enemy was on their heels. The 254th crossed the Rhine River and headed to the Danube River through April.

Men of the 254th arrived at the Danube River at the town of Leipheim on April 25. Company B was defending the left flank of the town against a counterattack. In the fighting described as intense, the enemy inflicted 24 casualties on Company B.

The following day, April 26, Pfc. Hugh Dingle lost his life in combat. It was a day for which he would be posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.

According to the citation for heroic achievement: “While advancing with his squad, Private First Class Dingle, observing a group of enemy, took a concealed position and ambushed the enemy. He killed seven and captured four of them. By his quick thinking and action he materially aided the advance of his unit. He took part in the assault on the town until mortally wounded. Private First Class Dingle’s devotion to duty reflects credit upon himself and upon the Armed Forces of the United States.”

After his heroic actions that day, he was struck in the head by shrapnel from an exploding shell. He did not survive. Pfc. Dingle was initially reported as missing, but was finally reported as killed in action on April 30.

Eight days later, on May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered. On that day, while the world celebrated, Andrew and Merle Gray received a telegram that Hugh had been killed in action. He was just 18 years, 6 months, and 24 days old, Mon City’s youngest loss during World War II. But he died a hero.

Hugh Dingle, remembered

Pfc. Hugh Dingle was initially buried at the American Military Cemetery at Reutti, Germany. He was later reinterred at the American Military Cemetery at St. Avold, France in September 1945. Pfc. Dingle was eventually transported back to Mon City for final burial at Monongahela Cemetery in December 1948, next to his birth mother, Agnes Gray. His family received his Bronze Star medal in December 1945.

Officers of Pfc. Hugh Dingle wrote to the Grays, and their comments were published in the local newspaper: LT Larry Childs wrote, “I had known Hugh well since he joined my unit. He was one of the finest and best soldiers I ever had.” LT Bernard F. Lee, Jr., added, “Hugh was a trustworthy and gallant soldier, we who fought at his side and lived with him like brothers liked and respected him.”

An unidentified colleague wrote “Hugh has paid a great price for his country. He was always very courageous and often accomplished deeds beyond the call of duty. Only a boy and yet truly a great man.”

Author’s Note: The headstone at the Monongahela Cemetery grave of Hugh Dingle is engraved with the rank of Corporal, not his final rank of Pfc. The headstone correctly shows his date of birth as Oct. 2, 1926.

John J. Turanin is a retired Western Pennsylvanian and grandson of the Mon Valley. His new book is “Tin Men Steel Soldiers: The price paid in WWII by a Pennsylvania mill town: True stories of the lives and losses of 82 men is about Monessen, PA.” John is one of hundreds of volunteers with the nonprofit organization Stories Behind The Stars who are writing memorial stories for every one of the 421,000 U.S. service members and 31,000 Pennsylvanians who lost their lives during WWII. Those interested in joining the effort are encouraged to visit www.StoriesBehindTheStars. org.