PVT. ALICK M. IAN, WWII: Died taking 1st German city to fall in WWII

Soldiers from Private Alick Main Ian's 60th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry Division are shown supported by a Sherman tank in Belgium on Sept. 9, 1944. Pvt. Ian, who lived at 10 Barney Park, died 33 days later near Aachen, Germany. His body was not identified until early 1950. (U.S. National Archives, public domain)

When 17-year-old Alick Main Ian arrived in the U.S. from his native Nairn, Scotland in 1929 with as many as seven of his nine living siblings and his parents, he’d already finished with school, was looking for work and was probably fretting over what direction his new life would lead. Little did he imagine his tragic end would come in Germany 15 years later.

Alick, a nickname among Scots for the name Alexander, was his real name. He likely was named to honor his older brother Alexander Main Ian Jr. who’d died at age 12 in 1911, a year before Alick was born. A savvy guess would lead one to believe that Alexander Jr. was probably nicknamed Aleck or Alec, thus the odd spelling of newborn Alick’s name with an “i,” although in future it would often be spelled, incorrectly, with an “e.”

Alick’s father Alexander Sr. was referred to as a second-generation ship chandler in the Scottish fishing hamlet of Nairn, an idyllic place where the River Nairn enters the Moray Firth some 17 miles east of Inverness. As a ship chandler he would have been a middle-man involved in the provisioning of ships. But that occupation, which was cited in his 1947 obituary, doesn’t jibe with his own Census statement at age 62 in 1930 that he was a “seaman.” In fact, his family says he was a successful fisherman in Nairn, owning a fleet of eight vessels before his departure for the U.S.

Nairn has since become a fashionable seaside resort destination.

Alick was the youngest of the Ian children, born Aug. 17, 1912. The eldest, Donald, was born in 1895, followed by Elspeth (Elsie), Margaret, Alexander, Anne (Annie), Willimina (Ina), Janet (Jessie), John, George, Robina (Ruby) and Alick over a 17-year span. The male children quickly found work in Irvington, where the family had settled in a rented house at 26 N. Dutcher St. John, George and Alick as trade apprentices at the Lord & Burnham Co. factory at the corner of South Astor and Main streets, an easy stroll from Dutcher Street. George and Alick were trainee painters at the boiler factory, John training as a carpenter. Donald also worked at Lord & Burnham. All the Ian siblings ended their educations by the Scottish equivalent of ninth grade. All were done with school when they emigrated.

Elsie was the first of the family to arrive in the U.S., arriving in New York on May 17, 1922. She found work as a live-in domestic servant for the France family of Tarrytown at 41 Neperhan Road. Brother Donald came to the U.S. in February 1927, arriving from Toronto through the entry port of Buffalo. Donald first arrived in North America on March 13, 1924, landing at St. John, Newfoundland a British dominion at the time, which didn’t become part of Canada until 1949.

By 1932, the family had moved to Willow Street in Spiro Park and by 1940 was living in a house in Barney Park which family members would own and occupy through the mid-1990s. Their home was the first on the left entering Barney Park through the gate in the fence at the south end of South Eckar Street, 10 Barney Park.

Sister Janet, known as Jessie, the only one of the six Ian daughters who never married, died in 1994 while still residing in Barney Park. She is believed to have been the last surviving Ian sibling.

Meanwhile, Alick, John and George were drafted into the military after the outbreak of war in December 1941. John would go on to become a military policeman for the U.S. Fifth Army in North Africa and Italy. George would join the Navy and become a boatswain’s mate first class, fighting in the Pacific. Both would survive the war physically unscathed. 

Eldest brother Donald served in the British Royal Navy in World War I aboard the armed merchant cruiser HMS Otway which was torpedoed and sunk by the U-boat UC 49 on July 23, 1919 off the Outer Hebrides islands off the west coast of Scotland. Ten crew members died in the attack, the rest of the crew including Donald Ian, was rescued within about a day of the sinking.

Alick received his Army induction notification on Feb. 9, 1944, coincidentally on the same day as another ill-fated Irvington resident on this list, Robert Morrison of 48 Main Street, southeast corner of South Dutcher, only a few blocks away. Alick quite possibly would have walked past Morrison’s house on a daily basis on the way to work.

For the curious, Alick was paid about $20 a week at Lord & Burnham, the equivalent of $11 an hour, or $440 per week today, when he reported to the Army.

He and fellow private Morrison would end up being killed in action in the Allied push into Germany that helped end World War II.

First came Alick’s death. Pvt. Ian was sent to Great Britain in August 1944, either just before or just after his 32nd birthday. His 60th Infantry Regiment was part of the 9th Infantry Division, veterans of the Operation Torch landings that led to the Allied liberation of Vichy French North Africa in late 1942 and 1943, then Operation Husky, where they helped liberate Sicily from the Nazis and Fascist Italy of Benito Mussolini.

When Alick arrived in Britain, the 60th and the 9th, which because of their combat experience were held out of the meat grinder of the Normany beach landings on June 6, 1944 and reserved for frontline duty against Germany’s crack troops in the interior, had joined the fray four days after D-Day, battling through the hedgerows of Normandy and driving the Nazis out of France. It’s uncertain when Alick was sent to the front, but it was certainly as a replacement as the 60th and 9th had both suffered heavy losses.

What we do know is that Alick had joined his regiment in time for the Battle of Aachen, an Allied offensive which began on Oct. 2, 1944 and was meant to relieve Allied forces confronted by  German defenders in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest which began and Sept. 19 and would continued until the Germans counter-attacked on Dec. 16, an attack which would become known as the Battle of the Bulge.

Aachen was the political heart of the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne at the height of his 768-814 reign — what the Nazis referred to as the “First Reich” (the “Second Reich” was the German Empire of kaisers Wilhelm I and II, 1871-1918). As such, it was incredibly important to Adolf Hitler and his Nazi propagandists and was the most heavily fortified of the so-called Siegfried Line, the Westwall defenses of the Third Reich in this case only about four miles from both the Belgian and Dutch frontiers.

A move against Aachen, Allied planners believed, would force Hitler to keep his best troops there instead of using them to bolster his defenses farther south in the Hurtgen Forest arena. The planners were right. As it turned out, the 1st Infantry Division, known as the Big Red One, was deployed south of Aachen to attempt a pincer move that would eventually surround the city. Alick Ian and the 9th Infantry Division were deployed on the outer flank of the 1st as a support reserve. 

It was in that role that Pvt. Alick M. Ian lost his life on Oct. 12. At the time, his body was not recovered and he was listed as missing in action. It took almost six years – until early 1950 – that his remains were recovered an identified.

The domeless Aachen Cathedral (left center, bottom), in the shape of a cross, is shown in this Oct. 25, 1944 aerial photo among the devastated ruins of the Rhineland city of Aachen after its surrender to the Allies. Pvt. Alick Ian had died in a southern suburb of the city 13 days earlier. Aachen was the first German city to be captured by the Allies in the war. The cathedral was ordered built by the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, and completed between 799 and 805 A.D. It is incorrectly referred to as the cathedral where Charlemagne was crowned emperor, a coronation that actually took place in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on Christmas Day 800 by Pope Leo III. The Aachen Cathedral was restored by the late 1970s. Thankfully, Aachen residents had removed and protected many of the cathedral's priceless art works before the Allied offensive, so much was saved. (U.S. National Archives, public domain)

Here’s a description of the Battle of Aachen from the Friends of the National World War II Memorial:

“On October 2, 1944, the American First Army launched an assault on the historic town of Aachen, which had been incorporated into Germany’s western fortifications. The town was captured in just less than three weeks of rough urban combat, making Aachen the first German town to be taken by the Allies.

“By fall of 1944, the Allies looked for a route through the Siegfried Line, Germany’s fortifications along its western border. Yet, as airborne troops in the Netherlands were withdrawing, (Gen. George S.) Patton’s Third Army was stalled at Metz [NE France], and some elements of [Gen.] Courtney Hodges’s First Army were bogged down in the Hurtgen Forest, no Allied force had yet succeeded in finding a way into Germany. 

“In the hopes of opening up such a route, Hodges dispatched some of his First Army [which included the 1st, 9th, 28th, 29th and 30th infantry divisions] to attack the fortifications near the town of Aachen. This German town dated back to the eighth century as the alleged birthplace of Charlemagne, and 32 German monarchs were crowned there, giving Aachen much historical prominence to the Third Reich. 

“As a result, this border town was built into the Siegfried Line, fortified with bunkers at key locations. Hitler ordered Aachen to be held at all costs. 

“Through late September, elements of the First Army closed in on the outskirts of the town. On Oct. 2, 1944, the assault on Aachen officially began, when the 30th Infantry Division attacked its northern pillbox defenses, with slow yet steady progress. Several days later, the 1st Infantry Division continued the attack from the south. By October 10, American infantry and armor had nearly surrounded the Germans in Aachen. 

“Hodges sent an ultimatum to the city’s defenders demanding their unconditional surrender within 24 hours, or else the town would be destroyed. When no answer came, the attacks resumed, this time accompanied by heavy barrages and aerial bombing runs against enemy strongholds. Soon, the 1st Infantry Division, supported by armor, spearheaded the rough house-to-house and sewer-to-sewer fighting that characterized the battle. Many casualties resulted from this brutal, close quarters fighting. 

“By October 16, Aachen was completely surrounded, and several German counterattacks could not free the town. Towards the end of the battle, the Americans resorted to using 155mm guns to target enemy-held buildings at close range. Facing the advancing troops and overwhelming bombings, the last dispirited German defenders surrendered on October 21. Fortress Aachen, along with some 5,000 prisoners, was in American hands.

“The Battle of Aachen was one of the last, largest urban battles fought by the U.S. Army during the war. The fervor of the German defenders, along with the bitter characteristics of the urban fighting, also made this battle one of the bloodiest, and the Americans were forced to reduce much of the city to rubble to achieve victory. The capture of Aachen marked the first German city to fall into Allied hands. With the town captured, Hodges had finally found the first hole in the Siegfried Line, opening the road to the Rhine ahead of him. At long last, the Allies could begin their advance across German soil itself.”

Pvt. Alick M. Ian's grave since his remains were finally identified and returned to Irvington in 1950 is shown at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale. (FindAGrave.com)

Initial reports indicated Pvt. Ian was lost near Germeter, Germany, some 20 miles southeast of Aachen, but in reality that’s where forensic teams actually identified his remains. He likely died much closer to Aachen itself.

Sadly, Pvt. Ian’s father Alexander had died at age 79 in 1947 without ever learning the fate of his youngest child. Mother Annie (Storm) Ian was still alive as were Pvt. Ian’s nine surviving siblings. He was remembered in a service at Edwards Funeral Home in Dobbs Ferry on the evening of Monday, July 24, 1950 conducted by the pastor of the Irvington Presbyterian Church of which the Ians were congregants. 

Another service followed on Tuesday morning July 25th and burial was at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale that afternoon under Presbyterian auspices and with full military honors and an honor guard firing a military salute under the direction of Irvington Post 2911, Veterans of Foreign Wars, many of whose members were in attendance.

In death, Alick was joined at rest in the Ferncliff Cemetery by most if not all of his immediate family members.

Links to similar personal stories about Irvington heroes who gave their lives for their country*

WORLD WAR II

◼ Pfc. Cuthbert Powell Sinkking: Class of '42 gave 3 of its own to the ages

◼ Sgt. Arnold J. Meszaros: Among first to land on Utah Beach

◼ 2LT. Robert R. Chalot, Jr.: Son of French WWI pilot dies in dad's homeland

◼ Pfc. John Joseph (Joe) Gilchrist: Died after capture of Saint-Lo

◼ Lt. (j.g.) George Eddison Haines: Lost at sea, awarded Silver Star

◼ Pfc. Joseph Thomas Costello: Teen lost life in Battle of Mindanao

◼ MSgt. James Peter Kelley: Survived WW II and Korea; died in fall

◼ S1 Archibald Ronald: Lost on next-to-last Navy ship sunk by U-boat

◼ TSgt. Raffaele R. (Ralph) Reale: A hero's life ended on East Sunnyside Lane

◼ Sgt. Robert F. Morrison: Took fight to the enemy, fell in Alsace

◼ Lt. Col. George W. Beavers Jr.: Re-upped as private; died on war's eve

◼ F2 Claude L. Bronnes: Went down with the Atlanta at Guadalcanal

◼ MMLC William James Downey: Died aboard ship off West Coast

◼ Pvt. Alick Main Ian: Died taking Aachen, first German city to fall in WWII

◼ Pfc. George Mills Hill Jr.: Survived Okinawa, only to fall in South Korea

◼ Pvt. Peter R. Robinson: Lost to shadows of time over Pacific, answers never found

◼  Pfc. Matthew A. Smith: Felled by friendly fire in training accident

WORLD WAR I

◼ Profiles of Philip McGovern, Louis Kindervatter, George Hazlett, Frank Farrell and John Kelly Jr. who gave their lives in the Great War

* World War II deaths include soldiers who enlisted during the World War II era and died while still in uniform, either killed in combat, or died of accidental or other causes. Two of the World War II fallen served in both World War II and the Korean Conflict and are listed under World War II. One of those died in an accidental fall after surviving both wars, the other was killed in action in Korea after surviving World War II.World War I deaths also include battlefield deaths and accidental or illness-related deaths by service members still in uniform at the time of their passing.