Listed on the Spring Brook Township World War II Memorial as “Stanley Dolesky”

Private First Class, Company I, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division

Born May 12, 1912 — Killed in Action July 17, 1944

Alexander S. Doleski was born May 12, 1912, in Moosic, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. He entered active service on June 21, 1941, in Scranton — six months before Pearl Harbor — and was assigned serial number 33 084 336.

Doleski served as a Private First Class in Company I, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. The 29th Division — known as the “Blue and Gray” — shipped to England in the fall of 1942 to prepare for the Allied invasion of Europe. On June 6, 1944, the 116th Infantry landed on Omaha Beach in one of the bloodiest engagements of D-Day. Doleski’s regiment was among the first waves ashore.

In the weeks that followed, the 29th Division fought inland through the hedgerow country of Normandy — dense, enclosed farmland that turned every field into a defensive position and every advance into close-quarters combat. It was some of the most grueling infantry fighting of the war.

Alexander S. Doleski was killed on July 17, 1944, six weeks after D-Day, while his company was positioned approximately half a mile north of Le Mesnil, France. The company morning report for July 20, 1944, records him as Missing in Action alongside several other enlisted men.

He was 32 years old.

His mother, Sophie Doleski, filed for Pennsylvania’s World War II Veterans’ Compensation on his behalf in 1950 from 3637 Laurel Avenue in Moosic.

On the Spring Brook Township memorial, he is remembered as “Stanley Dolesky” — a name the community knew him by, though his military records confirm his name as Alexander S. Doleski.

Sources: Pennsylvania World War II Veterans’ Compensation Application; Company Morning Report, Company I, 116th Infantry, July 20, 1944.

Pennsylvania World War II Veterans’ Compensation application for Alexander S. Doleski.

Company I, 116th Infantry morning report, July 20, 1944.

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