Maj. Jack Cameron Heist (November 6, 1919 – September 2, 1944)
XIX Headquarters Ammunition Officer
Written by Esteban Almanza and Marie Oury
Early Life
Jack Heist was born on November 6, 1919, to Henry and Christina Heist.1 Henry was a native of Peru, IL, and Christina Healy Heist originated from Sheridan Township, MI.2 After their wedding, the couple lived in Buffalo, NY, but they must have moved a lot in the early twentieth century, as by 1920 they settled in Lake County, FL, as farmers working in the citrus groves.3 Three years later, on July 15, 1922, Jack’s brother William was born in Eustis, FL.4 By 1930, Jack’s father had left the citrus groves to open a steam laundry business where he employed his brother-in-law.5 After Jack graduated from Eustis High School, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, to study Business and Engineering Administration. 6 There, in 1939, he joined Theta Delta Chi, pictured here, the Tech Swim Club, and the Quadrangle Club, an honorary society for Sophomores.7 He successfully directed five home meets in 1940 for the Tech Swim Team.8 During his time at MIT, Jack also completed the Reserve Officers’ Training Course and, as he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, he also received his commission as Second Lieutenant on May 29, 1941.9
Military Service
Jack Heist entered into active duty on October 31, 1941. He served within the office of the Chief of Ordnance at Fort Benning, GA until July 1942.10 Towards the end of Heist’s role as Chief of Ordnance, he married the nineteen-year-old Margaret Ann Gallagher from Pennsylvania.11 The two met while Margaret worked as a stenographer in the War Department.12 Reverend Edward Gallagher performed the marriage at the Holy Savior Church in Wilkes Barre, PA, on July 15, 1942. At the time of his wedding, Heist was already First Lieutenant.13
Between July and November of 1942, Heist served in an armored division before the Army transferred him once more, to Camp Polk, LA.14 While at Camp Polk, on September 14, 1942, his mother Christina Heist passed away unexpectedly from apoplexy.15
In January 1944, the Army sent Heist to England, where he served as a Captain in an ordnance ammunition officer for the XIX Corps. Then by February 1944, he experienced another painful loss when his father passed away from a heart attack.16
The Corps began its operations on June 14, 1944, participating in the Battle of Normandy, France. It is doubtful that Heist took part in many, if any, battles as the Ordnance Division was in the rear echelon. The men of the XIX Corps, however, made great strides through France, and in four months they managed to push their way to the border of Belgium. Sometime between February and September 1944, Heist was once more promoted to the rank of Major.17
As the Army moved eastward, the Ordnance Divisions had to cross a major German retreat route.18 On September 2, 1944, Major Jack Heist, with Captain Allan H. Reed, Private John H. Miller, and Technician Zan D. Hassin, were on a reconnaissance mission for an ASP (ammunition supply point). As they entered the city of Thiant, close to the Belgium border, German soldiers ambushed their party. Heist died immediately, as did Miller and Hassin. Reed, badly wounded, died later that day in the home of a French family who had tried to rescue him. A few minutes after the mortal ambush, a US tank formation arrived in Thiant, liberating the city.19
Legacy
The people of Thiant held a wake for the four American soldiers killed in the ambush. On September 5, 1944, the Abbey Marcais supervised a funeral service at the Thiant church, after which Heist, Reed, Miller, and Hassin were buried in the temporary cemetery of Solers, south of Paris.20
Immediately following Heist’s death, the Army established an inventory of his belongings, which included clothes, a ring, a wristwatch, photos, and a religious medal. Then, it returned his belongings to his grieving widow, Margaret Heist. In November 1946, Margaret married Edwin Murphy, so when the Quartermaster General War Department reached out in June 1947 regarding the final disposition of Jack’s body, it no longer recognized Margaret as Heist’s next of kin. Therefore, William Heist, Jack’s last living relative, decided to reinter his brother in Eastern France. Jack Heist finally found his final resting place on June 1949, at the Epinal American Cemetery, block B, row 8, grave 62.21 For his service, Jack Heist received the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.22 His brother also memorialized him at the family plot in Greenwood Cemetery, Eustis, FL. In 2000, the city of Thiant unveiled a plaque at its Souvenir Square dedicated to Jack Heist and the three other American soldiers killed on September 2, 1944, a few hours before the city was liberated.23
1 “Jack C. Heist,” Find a Grave (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=108032380&PIpi=77934759: accessed February 4, 2016).
2 “Pennsylvania, US., Marriages, 1985-1968” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed November 10, 2022), entry for Jack Heist; “Mrs. Christina Healy Heist,” The Times Herald Port Huron, Michigan, September 14, 1942, page 10, Newspaper.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/209880655: accessed November 10, 2022).
3 “1920 United States Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed November 10, 2022), entry for Jack Heist, Lake County, Florida.
4 “Heist, William F.,” The Orlando Sentinel, May 30, 2008, page C4, Newspaper.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/268558003/: accessed November 10, 2022).
5 “1930 United States Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed November 10, 2022), entry for Henry Heist, Lake County, Florida.
6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1939 Yearbook, page 318, database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry,com: accessed February 21, 2016) See image at the RICHES Epinal American Cemetery Collection here; MIT admission: 150 Years of MIT course catalogs by CJ Q.’23, https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/course-catalogs-history: accessed November 10, 2022).
7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1939 Yearbook, pages 166 and 362.
8 Ibid, 88.
9 Ibid, 284; “Eustis Man Will Wed In Pennsylvania Ceremony July 15,” The Tampa Tribune, July 12, 1942, page 27, Newspaper.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/327018680/: accessed February 28, 2016); “Local men in Armed Forces on Land, at Sea, in the Air,” The Times Leader, December 24, 1942, page 6, Newspaper.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4441134/the-times-leader/: accessed February 28, 2016).
10 “Local Men in Armed Forces On Land, At Sea, In The Air” The Wilkes-Barre Record, December 24, 1942, page 6, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4441134/the_wilkesbarre_record/: accessed February 28, 2016).
11 “Pennsylvania, US., Marriages, 1985-1968” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed November 10, 2022), entry for Jack Heist.
12 “Three Killed On Local List of Casualties,” Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News. September 20, 1944, page 3, Ancestry.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4441093/wilkesbarre_times_leader_the_evening/: accessed February 28, 2016).
13 “Margaret Ann Gallagher Is Bride of Lieut. Jack Cameron Heist” Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News, July 15, 1942, page 7, Ancestry.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4441154/wilkesbarre_times_leader_the_evening/: accessed February 28, 2016).
14 “Local Men In Armed Forces On Land, At Sea, In the Air,”; “Three Killed on Local List of Casualties.”
15 “Mrs. Christina Healy Heist,” The Times Herald Port Huron, Michigan, September 14, 1942, page 10, Newspaper.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/209880655/: accessed November 10, 2022).
16 “Henry S. Heist,” Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244632187/henry-s-heist: Accessed November 10, 2022); “Three Killed On Local List of Casualties.”
17 “XIX Corps Combat Chronology June 1944,” XIX Corps (http://www.xixcorps.nl/XIX_Corps_Chronology_June_1944.htm: accessed February 4, 2016); “Three Killed On Local List of Casualties.”
18 Lida Mayo, The Ordnance Department: On Beachhead and Battlefront; the Technical Services; United States Army in World War Two (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1991), 274.
19 “2 septembre 1944 – Libération de THIANT,” Société d’Histoire Locale de Thiant, last modified April 10, 2010, https://histoire-thiant.fr/index.php; accessed November 14, 2022; Benjamin Senez, “Libération de Thiant : l’histoire bouleversante du soldat Allan Reed,” La Voix du Nord, September 9, 2014 (http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/liberation-de-thiant-l-histoire-bouleversante-du-ia27b36952n2369051: accessed February 28, 2016).
20 “2 septembre 1944 – Libération de THIANT,” Société d’Histoire Locale de Thiant.
21 “Jack C Heist – 2 septembre 1944 – Individual Decease Personal File,” Societe d’Histoire Locale de Thiant, last modified September 19, 2017, https://histoire-thiant.fr/index.php; accessed November 14, 2022; “Interment Record: Jack C. Heist,” American Battle Monuments Commission, accessed November 10, 2022, https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/heist%3Djack.
22 “Headstone Inscription and Interment Record,” database, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com: accessed February 19, 2016) entry for Jack Heist. See image in the RICHES Epinal American Cemetery Collection here.
23 “2 septembre 1944 – Libération de THIANT,” Société d’Histoire Locale de Thiant; Senez, “Libération de Thiant : l’histoire bouleversante du soldat Allan Reed.”