DOB/DOD: October 17, 1928 (Norwalk, CT) – April 8, 1952; 23 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: 8 Burwell Street, Norwalk [1930 census]
ENLISTMENT: January 22, 1951
SERIAL NUMBER: 51090109
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 11B; Light Weapons Infantryman
UNIT: Company B, 279th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
FAMILY: Born to George E. (1906-1974) and Margaret J. McWhirter Broadhurst [born in Scotland] (1903-1995). Two sisters, Jean C. Broadhurst Mehr (1930-2004) and Margaret E. Broadhurst Vasilakos (1938-2021).
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Purple Heart Medal. Photos below were contributed by Laraine Turlis and Lenore Kalotai, nieces of PFC Broadhurst.
CASUALTY LOCATION: Killed in Action in the Chorwan Valley near Hill 200, North Korea.
OTHER: Before the war, he worked at Saabye and Harford, Inc., 329 West Avenue, Norwalk.
Darien High School Yearbook, Class of 1946; yearbook photo
From The Hartford Courant, December 2, 1950; occupational deferment declined by Appeals Board.
DRAFT APPEALS TURNED DOWN IN 11 CASES
Two West Hartford Men’s Pleas Denied;
Four Stays Granted
The State Selective Service Appeals Board Thursday night denied deferments to 11 applicants, among them two West Hartford men, Chairman Wallace W. Brown announced Friday. The five-man board, which granted four temporary stays, decided unanimously that Robert F. DePatie of 114 Garfield Road, West Hartford, an Industrial Sound Control Company worker, John S. Rossiter of 32 Meadowbrook Road, West Hartford, an employee of the Edgewood School In Greenwich, would remain in the 1-A classification. Both had requested 2-A or occupational deferments. Also denied occupational deferments were: Harold L. Steeves of Fairfield, an employee of Remington Rand, Inc., Bridgeport: Edward R. Knibbs, of Unionville, an employee of the Mayflower Manufacturing Company, Unionville; Edmund M. LeClair of Torrington, an employee of the Progressive Manufacturing Company, Torrington; Gaetano D’Ambrose of Hamden, an employee of the Gillmor, Motor Company. New Haven, and George R. Broadhurst of Noroton Heights, an employee of Saabye and Hartford, Inc., Norwalk.
From The Norwalk Hour April 14, 1952
DARIEN YOUTH KILLED IN WAR
Private First Class George Robert Broadhurst, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. George E. Broadhurst of Pine Street, Noroton Heights, was killed in action on April 8 in Korea while fighting with the 279th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, according to word received by his parents from the Adjutant General, Department of the Army. PFC Broadhurst, a native of Norwalk, was employed as a stock clerk at the Agency of Saabye and Harford Inc. on West Avenue in Norwalk. His parents had received a letter last week which mentioned nothing of fighting at the front, but that the Darien youth was looking forward with other division members to replacements and a return home in June. He had been in Korea since December of last year. He was drafted in January of the same year from Norwalk, received basic training at Camp Polk, Louisiana and in June, shipped to Japan. From there, he went to Korea. PFC Broadhurst attended Norwalk schools and graduated from Darien High School in June 1944. Besides his parents, PFC Broadhurst is survived by two sisters, Miss Margaret E. Broadhurst and Miss Jean C. Broadhurst.
From The Darien Review April 17, 1952
PFC GEORGE R. BROADHURST KILLED IN ACTION IN KOREA
PFC George R. Broadhurst, 23, was killed in action in Korea on April 8, according to a telegram received here Monday morning by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George E. Broadhurst of Pine Street, Noroton Heights. The telegram from the Defense Department, signed by Major General William E. Bergin, said PFC Broadhurst was killed in “battle” but gave no further details. Maj Gen Bergin said a letter with more information will follow. PFC Broadhurst, who was 23 years old in October 1951, had been in Korea with the 45th Infantry Division, Oklahoma National Guard, since December 1951. Until the time of his death, he had been stationed in the Chorwan Valley, about 130 miles north of Seoul. A graduate of Darien High School in 1946, PFC Broadhurst was employed at Saabye and Harford, Norwalk auto dealers, until he was drafted in January 1951 and assigned to the Oklahoma National Guard. He received his basic training at Camp Polk, Louisiana, and was transferred to Japan, where he was stationed from June 1941 to December 1951. PFC Broadhurst, whose father is a mechanic at Saabye and Harford, is survived by his parents and two sisters, Miss Jean C. Broadhurst, a private secretary with Publication Services, Inc., of Stamford, and Margaret E. Broadhurst, a student at Darien Junior High School. PFC Broadhurst is the third Darien man to be killed in action in Korea since the beginning of hostilities in June 1950. The others were PFC Julius C. Nacci, U.S. Marines, and PFC James A. Dooley, Jr., U.S. Army.
Memorialized on Panel 26 at the Korean War Veterans Memorial, 900 Ohio Drive SW, Washington, DC
Buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, 41 Hecker Road, Darien, Connecticut; Section I.
END
Honor Norwalk CT veterans 