Since the American Revolution, more than 1.3 million Americans have died in battle or during wartime service. Each year on Memorial Day, these men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice are remembered with reverence. Among them is Sgt. Oscar Wayne McAfee, a Deerfield native, who was lost in the line of duty in 1944.
McAfee was born in 1921 at Garden City, the son of Harrison and Lulu McAfee. He grew up in and near Deerfield where he graduated with the Deerfield High School Class of 1939 and engaged in farming with his father, a World War I vet. McAfee married Eloris Scheuerman in August of 1942, just three days before leaving for military service.
He took his basic training at Camp Roberts, California, joining the 127th Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division in December of ’42. The division was the same one in which his father had served. McAfee received additional military and maneuver training in Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and West Virginia.
His team sailed to England, landing May 24, 1944. They were stationed at Newquay until early July when the regiment sailed and landed on French soil at Omaha Beach. In the initial attack of Company B, harassing enemy machine gun fire impeded the progress of the unit. Sgt. McAfee, accompanied by three others, voluntarily went forward in an attempt to destroy an enemy machine gun emplacement in a hedgerow 100 yards to its right. Despite enemy fire of all types, the patrol was successful in reaching the emplacement where McAfee destroyed the machine gun position by using three hand grenades, killing two enemy machine gunners and wounding two whom he took as prisoners. McAfee, his patrol and prisoners were discovered by an enemy observer when returning to the unit. They were fired upon, and Sgt. McAfee, the two prisoners and two members of the patrol were killed. McAfee’s obituary lists his date and place of death as July 11, 1944 near St. Lo, France.
For Sgt. McAfee’ gallantry in action, his courage and devotion to duty in accord with the high tradition of the military service, he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. He was also cited with an American Theatre Ribbon, Victory Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Ribbon with two bronze service stars, Good Conduct Medal, expert carbine and rifle badges, combat infantryman’s badge and Purple Heart.
Sgt. Wayne McAfee’s body arrived by rail in Garden City in February of 1948, accompanied by a military escort from the American Graves Registration Distribution Center in Kansas City, Mo. Delegations from the Garden City VFW and American Legion posts met the train, and Kearny County posts also took part in the burial services. Funeral services were conducted February 10, 1948 at the Deerfield High School auditorium. Despite a near-blizzard, more than 500 people attended the memorial services. As friends and comrades of the deceased gathered to pay a final tribute at the Deerfield Cemetery, a high wind swept a blizzard into Kearny County.
Sgt. McAfee was preceded in death by an infant sister and older brother, Vern, a Marine who also died while serving his country. Sgt. Oscar Wayne McAfee was survived by his parents, wife and their young daughter, Lola Wynn, who was born six months after his death. Eloris never remarried. She lived in Garden City where she worked for Montgomery Wards and Woolworths and volunteered at St. Catherine Hospital. She was laid to rest beside her husband at Deerfield in 2010, her marker engraved with the words, “SWEETHEARTS FOREVER.”