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Private First Class Paul Raymond Krug

A young man wearing his Army shirt and cap, smiling for the camera.
  • Unit: 63rd Infantry Division, 253rd Infantry Regiment, Company G
  • Service Number: 39585152
  • Date of Birth: February 12, 1926
  • Entered the Military: May 5, 1944
  • Date of Death: February 17, 1945
  • Hometown: Selma, California
  • Place of Death: Neunkirch, France
  • Award(s): Purple Heart
  • Cemetery: Plot A, Row 3, Grave 15, Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France
Contributed by Mrs. Aubrey Weatherby
Washington Intermediate School (Dinuba, California)
2024/2025

Early Life

Paul R. Krug was born in Healdsburg, California, on February 12, 1926. His family moved to Selma, California, where he lived with his parents and three siblings. Krug’s father, Raymond Krug, was a minister from Germany who worked at a church in Selma. Paul and his siblings were active members of the community’s youth group. They would often host community events for Selma’s youth sponsored by the church. 

Krug was involved in many extracurriculars at Selma High School, where he played tennis, wrote for the student newspaper, played in the school’s band, and helped his California Scholarship Federation raise money for the Red Cross. After graduating in 1943, Krug moved to Los Angeles with his grandparents to attend Occidental College, where he studied to become a minister.

Paul R. Krug (second from the right) and his peers pose in the office of The Clarion, Selma High School’s student newspaper, 1943. Selma High School.
Paul R. Krug (fourth from the right) and the Selma High School tennis team, 1943. Selma High School.
Paul R. Krug (front row, third from the right) and his fellow California Scholarship Federation recipients, 1943. Selma High School.

Homefront

Paul R. Krug’s family lived in Selma, California, a small city in Fresno County, the heart of California’s agriculture production. Selma was known for growing grapes, peaches, and cotton, which was used to support the Food for Freedom program. Selma is about 20 minutes from Fresno, California, where the manufacturing and assembly of B-17 bombers took place at Lockheed Martin.

After the United States joined World War II, Fresno’s Assembly Center became a holding area for Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants from Fresno and Sacramento counties waiting to be moved to an internment camp in Arkansas or Arizona. It was open for 177 days. During this time, 5,344 people passed through the facility.

An aerial view of the Fresno Assembly Center and the barracks that held Fresno’s Japanese Americans, 1942. Densho.

Military Experience

Paul Krug was drafted during the sixth selective service draft registration in December 1942. Before being sent overseas, Paul trained in Camp Hood, Texas, and Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. He arrived in Marseilles, France on December 8, 1944. As part of the 253rd Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division, Company G, Krug worked to prepare equipment and himself for front-line duty. 


On February 17, 1945, Companies G and E of the 63rd Infantry Division worked under artificial moonlight to cross the Saar and Biles Rivers to capture the Muhlen Woods from the German forces. This event was a precursor to Operation Undertone, which would reclaim the Saar and Rhine Rivers from Germany for the Allied forces. Germany launched a counter-attack with heavy artillery fire, and Company G was overrun. Krug suffered a gunshot wound and died in action.

Paul Krug’s report of death, March 27, 1945. Individual Deceased Personnel File.
Paul Krug’s inventory of person effects, February 20, 1945. Individual Deceased Personnel File.

Commemoration

On February 17, 1945, Paul R. Krug was listed as Missing in Action. His body was recovered and identified on March 6, 1945. Krug was 19 years old when he died.

Krug was buried in the Epinal American Cemetery in Epinal, France. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. 

Krug’s legacy lived on with his family. When he was drafted, he was attending Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he was working to become a minister. To honor his memory, his older brother, Donald , changed the course of his career. Donald, a Veteran himself who was studying to become an engineer, decided to become a minister. 

Newspaper article announcing Paul Krug’s death. The Selma Enterprise, March 15, 1945.
Paul Krug’s headstone at Epinal American Cemetery in Dinozé, France. American Battle Monuments Commission.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

“253d Infantry Regiment Operations Reports for the Period Dec 44 – Apr 45.” 63d Infantry Division. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.63rdinfdiv.com/files/253d_Infantry_Regiment_Operational_Reports_History_.pdf.   

“All Persons Over 15 Are Asked to Register for Civil Defense Service.” The Selma Enterprise [Selma, CA], December 18, 1941. Newspapers.com (6304377258).

California. Alameda County. 1930 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com. 

California. Tulare County. 1940 U.S. Census. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

Gibson, Kevin. Telephone interview with the author. January 8, 2025.

Magnet 1943. Selma Union High School. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012. https://ancestry.com.

Paul Krug. Individual Deceased Personnel File. National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Paul R. Krug. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

“Paul Krug Killed in Action Feb. 17, Parents Informed.” The Selma Enterprise [Selma, CA], March 15, 1945. Newspapers.com (630390213).

“Sees Post-War Problems Arising in California: Club Speaker Warns Against New Racial Conflicts on Coast.” The Selma Enterprise [Selma, CA], October 19, 1944. Newspapers.com (630195145).

“Selma Defense Council is Now Organized.” The Selma Enterprise [Selma, CA], December 18, 1941. Newspapers.com (6304377258).

“Selma Launches 1944 War Chest Drive Today: Breakfast is Opening Event of Campaign to Raise $8,225.” The Selma Enterprise [Selma, CA], October 19, 1944. Newspapers.com (630195145).

“Students Meeting Crisis Calmly, Board is Told: loyalty of Entire Group Unquestioned, Principal Reports.” The Selma Enterprise [Selma, CA], December 18, 1941. Newspapers.com (6304377258).

“War Mothers Hold Regular Meeting” The Selma Enterprise [Selma, CA], November 18, 1943. Newspapers.com (630189417).

Secondary Sources

“63d Infantry Division.” The Army Historical Foundation. Accessed February 18, 2025. https://armyhistory.org/63d-infantry-division/. 

“A Classicist Farmer: The Life and Times of Victor Davis Hanson.” Hoover Institution. Accessed January 8, 2025. https://www.hoover.org/research/classicist-farmer-life-and-times-victor-davis-hanson 

“Fresno (Detention Facility)” Densho Encyclopedia. Updated January 13, 2024. Accessed March 24, 2025. https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Fresno_(detention_facility)/.

“Historical Perspectives: A ‘Rosie the Riveter’ recalls WWII work at converted Fresno Ice Rink.” The Fresno Bee [Fresno, CA], February 16, 2016. https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article60073831.html. 

Hensley, Nathan K. “Our Ghosts: On Japanese Internment in Fresno.” Los Angeles Review of Books, March 5, 2017. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/our-ghosts-on-japanese-internment-in-fresno/.

“Operation Undertone.” Codenames: Operations of World War II. Accessed February 18, 2025. https://codenames.info/operation/undertone/. 

“Operation Western Allied Invasion of Germany.” Codenames: Operations of World War II. Accessed February 18, 2025. https://codenames.info/operation/western-allied-invasion-of-germany/. 

“‘Our Job is to Get It Picked:’ Volunteerism, Coercion, and the California Farm Labor Crisis of 1942.” Boom California. Accessed January 8, 2025. https://boomcalifornia.org/2021/03/25/our-job-is-to-get-it-picked-volunteerism-coercion-and-the-california-farm-labor-crisis-of-1942/.

“Paul R. Krug.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed December 29, 2024. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/krug%3Dpaul. 

“Paul Raymond Krug.” Find a Grave. Updated August 7, 2010. Accessed February 24, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56373599/paul-raymond-krug.

“Rosie the Riveter.” Lockheed Martin. Accessed January 29, 2025. https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/history/rosie-the-riveter.html. 

“Quick Facts Selma City, California.” United States Census Bureau. Accessed January 8, 2025. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/selmacitycalifornia/PST045224 .

“The Ultimate Sacrifice.” Occidental College. Accessed January 29, 2025. https://www.oxy.edu/news/ultimate-sacrifice.

“World War II Selective Service Draft Registrations.” Veteran Voices Military Research. Accessed February 18, 2025. https://veteran-voices.com/world-war-ii-selective-service-draft-registrations/.

This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.