| Home State | Civilian Occupation |
| Delaware | Shipping clerk at DuPont Company’s Edgemoor Plant |
| Branch | Service Number |
| U.S. Army | 32485759 |
| Theater | Unit |
| European | Company “C,” 237th Engineer Combat Battalion |
| Awards | Campaigns/Battles |
| Purple Heart | Normandy |
Early Life & Family
Julian Adair Long was born at 1315 Shallcross Avenue in Wilmington, Delaware on January 7, 1911. He was the son of Frank Levi Long (1879–1934) and Margaret Louisa Long (née Ross, 1882–1962). His father was a foreman at the nearby Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company textile mill, better known as Bancroft Mills. Long had six siblings: two older sisters, two older brothers, and two younger brothers. One brother, Raymond L. Long (1908–1984), served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War.
The Long family was still living at 1315 Shallcross Avenue on September 30, 1914, when the family’s youngest child was born. By September 12, 1918, when Long’s father registered for the draft, Long and his family were living at 8 Riddle Avenue in Wilmington. In January 1920, the Long family was recorded on the census living at the same address, but by the time of the next census in April 1930, the family had moved a few blocks south to 1617 West 13th Street. Both Long and his father were recorded as foremen at a textile mill. Although it is likely, the record does not specify whether Long was working at Bancroft along with his father. The family remained at that address until at least June 1, 1934, when Frank Long died.
On May 12, 1939, Long and his mother purchased land along Road 336, today referred to as Old Baltimore Pike, in White Clay Creek Hundred west of Christiana. When he was recorded on the census in April 1940, Long was working as a shipping clerk at a chemical plant. Later that year, on October 16, 1940, Long registered for the draft. The registrar described hm as standing about five feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 160 lbs., with brown hair and blue eyes. He listed his employer as the Krebs Company in Edgemoor. Technically, the Krebs factory had been purchased by DuPont in 1935, and indeed an August 1, 1944, article in Journal-Every Evening stated the Long “was formerly employed by the DuPont Company at the Edgemoor Plant.”
Military Training
Long was drafted about a year after the U.S. entered World War II. He was inducted into the U.S. Army on December 22, 1942. Although his enlistment data card was among approximately 13% that could not be digitized, most selectees from Delaware were inducted at Camden, New Jersey, and briefly transferred to the Enlisted Reserve Corps on inactive duty.
Long’s personnel file was largely destroyed in the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire. Just six charred pages, largely casualty records, are known to have survived. However, morning reports preserved at the National Archives in St. Louis make it possible to largely reconstruct his military career. Long went on active duty on December 29, 1942, and was attached unassigned to Company “G,” 1229th Reception Center, Fort Dix, New Jersey. A set of orders two days later dispatched him to Camp Carson, Colorado.
Private Long departed Fort Dix by rail on January 1, 1943, reporting for duty at Camp Carson on January 4. Two days later, he was assigned to Company “F,” 49th Engineer Combat Regiment. During World War II, many soldiers including Long received their basic training directly with combat units rather than at a training center. On January 10, Company “F” cadre began a 13-week training program for Long and over 180 other recruits. The program was interrupted during January 20–23 by winds so heavy that multiple camp buildings sustained damage. Company morning reports do not record many specifics about the training, aside from that the company went to the firing range on March 1–10, and a reconnaissance exercise at the end of the month.
Effective April 1, 1943, the 49th Engineer Combat Regiment was broken up. 2nd Battalion was reorganized into the 237th Engineer Combat Battalion, with Company “F,” 49th Engineer Combat Regiment becoming Company “C,” 237th Engineer Combat Battalion. A roster from that date listed his duty and military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) code as 521, basic, indicating that Long had not yet qualified in any M.O.S.
Frederick Peters, another member of the 237th Engineer Combat Battalion, recalled the unit’s intensive training regimen: physical training including long hikes, setting up and demolishing obstacles, mines, and constructing bridges.
Long was promoted to private 1st class on August 12, 1943. He went on furlough on September 3, returning to duty 10 days later.
Long was promoted to technician 5th grade on October 19. Although no known surviving document explicitly describes Long’s duty, under the version of Table of Organization No. 5-17 then in effect, a technician 5th grade in an engineer combat company could be a bridge or general carpenter, a cook, a chauffeur, an electrician, an automobile mechanic, air compressor operator, a tractor driver, a halftrack driver, a motorcyclist, a radio operator, or toolroom keeper. General carpenter was the most common duty for a technician 5th grade, with six in a full-strength company, followed by chauffeur, with five.
On November 3, 1944, Technician 5th Grade Long departed Camp Carson at 1145 hours. After a three-day journey by train, they arrived at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, at 1400 hours on November 6.
Overseas Service
On November 12, 1944, Long and 40 other men from his company were attached for rations and duty to Headquarters & Service Company, 237th Engineer Combat Battalion, which at 1030 hours that morning left Camp Patrick Henry. At 1130 hours, they boarded S.S. Hilary A. Herbert at the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation. The main body of Company “C” boarded another vessel, S.S. Richard Rush. Both vessels departed Hampton Roads on November 14 as part of Convoy UGS-24.
After the ships arrived in Oran, Algeria, on December 4, 1943, Long and his detachment rejoined Company “C,” now at a Mediterranean Base Section staging area. It was a quiet month, with training, guard duty, reconditioning equipment, and work details at the docks. On the evening of January 4, 1944, Long and his unit boarded a train to an unknown destination. On the evening of January 6, they arrived at Camp Don B. Passage, Morocco. At 1530 hours on January 11, they left camp by truck. At 1700, they embarked aboard the British transport Andes at Casablanca, Morocco, sailing the following afternoon.
On January 20, 1944, Long and his comrades arrived in Liverpool, England, where they boarded a train at 1900 hours. At 0800 the following morning, they arrived in Eastleigh, where they transferred to trucks, finally arriving at Camp Hursley, Winchester, Hampshire, England at 0930.
Joseph Balkoski explained in his book, Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing and Airborne Operations on D-day, June 6, 1944, the reason for the 237th Engineer Combat Battalion’s roundabout journey to the United Kingdom. Long and his unit had originally been earmarked for India but diverted was to the European Theater after Operation Overlord planners expanded the plan to include Utah Beach. Balkoski wrote that the engineers “were sent to the U.S. Army Assault Training Center on the north coast of Devon in April to learn how to demolish German beach obstacles.”
On June 6, 1944, the morning of D-Day in Normandy, the 237th Engineer Combat Battalion landed at Utah Beach and (together with U.S. Navy demolition personnel) began clearing beach obstacles. Six engineers were killed when German artillery fire struck their landing craft. The engineers breached the seawall with explosives, allowing American vehicles to move inland. They also worked to clear barbed wire and enemy minefields.
Balkoski wrote in Utah Beach:
Aided by the 237th Engineers’ hasty construction of a ten-yard steel treadway bridge over a culvert a mile inland—the first of thousands of bridges the U.S. Army would construct in northwest Europe over the next year—the 4th Division and all its associated vehicles could now flow freely inland.
According to the Company “C” morning report for D-Day, Technician 5th Grade Long and Private James N. Keane (1924–1944) were seriously wounded around 0930 hours.
Remarkably, extant notes from Team No. 6, 3rd Auxiliary Surgical Group, attached to the 261st Amphibious Medical Battalion, include a page about Long’s wounds and treatment. Differing slightly from the morning report, the notes state that he was injured by shell fragments at 1100 hours. He was in shock with shallow respirations by the time surgery began at 2200 hours that evening. The notes describe the injury: “Transverse thru & thru wound from left flank to upper rt abdomen [with] evisc[eration] of omentum.” In addition, Long’s “stomach almost transected, rt lobe of liver split, omentum torn from trans[verse] colon, latter not perf[orated]; jejunum has tangential tear 2 cm long.”
During exploratory surgery, Major Glenn W. Zeiders (1906–1963) repaired Long’s damaged abdominal organs, inserted a drain, applied sulfa, and debrided the exit wound. Afterward, Long received two units of blood plasma. Despite their efforts, Long died of his injuries. Curiously, one section of the doctor’s notes stated that Long died on June 7, while another specified June 8.
Officially, Technician 5th Grade Long died of his wounds on June 8, 1944. He was initially buried the following day at a temporary cemetery near Pouppeville, Normandy, known as 607 Macon. On June 27, he was reburied at another temporary cemetery at Sainte-Mère-Église.
A wallet, a ring, and a fountain pen were found on Long’s person. His other personal effects included a souvenir pen, a pair of goggles, a damaged Meda wristwatch, a mirror, and two sewing kits.
Recorded casualties for the 237th Engineer Combat Battalion on D-Day were six men dead and 33 wounded. One of the wounded was Technician 5th Grade Long.
It took a long time, even by the standards of the day, for Long’s family to learn his fate. It was only on July 2, 1944, that the War Department dispatched a telegram informing his mother that Technician 5th Grade Long had been seriously wounded in action. A July 10 article in the Wilmington Morning News reported: “Corporal [sic] Long, 33, was seriously wounded in France on D-Day, June 6. No further word of his condition has been received by his mother.” Remarkably, the War Department did not receive confirmation of his death until July 27, and notification to his mother did not go out until July 28.
Technician 5th Grade Long was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. After the war, in 1947, Long’s mother requested that his body remain at a permanent overseas cemetery. In accordance with her wishes, he was reburied for the final time on April 22, 1948, at what is now referred to as the Normandy American Cemetery. He is also memorialized on his parents’ headstone at Silverbrook Cemetery in Wilmington and at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware.
Notes
Address in Wilmington
Although the road still exists, there is no longer an address of 8 Riddle Avenue.
Ship
Curiously, morning reports list the name of Headquarters & Service Company’s vessel as HS Herbert instead of Hilary A. Herbert.
Technician 5th Grade
Technician 5th grade was at the same pay grade as corporal and frequently referred to that way (or sometimes as “corporal technician”).
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the Delaware Public Archives for the use of their photo of Technician 5th Grade Long.
Bibliography
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Batens, Alain S. and Major, Ben. “261st Amphibious Medical Battalion.” WW2 US Medical Research Centre website. https://www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/261st-amphibious-medical-battalion/
Census Record for Julian A. Long. April 4, 1940. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9MR-M938
Census Record for Julian Long. April 28, 1930. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RH9-5V
Census Record for Julian Long. January 13, 1920. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R6W-8S3
Certificate of Birth for Harold Everett Long. October 12, 1914. Record Group 1500-008-094, Birth Certificates. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS76-DSQV-S
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Deed Between William N. Reinhart and Elsie M. Reinhart, Parties of the First Part, and Julian Adair Long and Margaret Louise Long, Parties of the Second Part. May 12, 1939. Delaware Land Records, 1677–1947. Record Group 2555-000-011, Recorder of Deeds, New Castle County. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61025/images/31303_257092-00348
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“Obituary Notes.” June 2, 1934. Wilmington Morning News. https://www.newspapers.com/article/76479874/
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Last updated on October 13, 2026
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