Elvin M. Canter
Private First Class, U.S. Army

In February 1945, Private First Class Elvin M. Canter was serving with the U.S. Army's 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry ('Rainbow') Division.

On 14 February 1945 the 42nd Infantry Division received its orders to move into the front lines and relieve the 45th Infantry Division in an area near Wimmenau and Wingen in the Hardt Mountains northwest of Haguenau, France. Two days later the Division began its move into the lines and it was completed without incident. At midnight on 17 February the command of the sector passed to Major General Harry J. Collins and the Rainbow Division began its first day of combat as a unit in World Wat II.

The Division had been assigned a defensive mission. The 222nd Infantry was assigned the left of the Rainbow sector and the 232nd Infantry was placed on the right. The 242nd Infantry was put in reserve. On the 232nd front the Second Battalion was placed on the right, the Third Battalion was assigned the center and the First Battalion was put on the left. The 222nd Infantry placed the First Battalion on right, the Second in the center and the Third on the left. The entire Division front covered a distance of approximately eight miles, with this divided equally between the 222nd and the 232nd Regiments.

Opposing the Division when it moved into the line was the German 6th Mountain Division, an experienced unit which had been stationed for some time in Norway and was trained in fighting in the woody and mountainous terrain which the Rainbow Division was now occupying.

On 7 March 1944, PFC Canter was killed in action.

Medals and Awards

Purple Heart
American Campaign Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal

Death and Burial

Private First Class Elvin M. Canter is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-Avold, Departement de la Moselle, Lorraine, France.