Max David
S/SGT in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co B, 3rd Platoon
ASN#32179772
Born 1914 in PA, Died 1999
County of residence at enlistment: Summit County, OH
Other residence(s): Coalport, PA; Brooklyn, NY; Cleveland, OH; New Braunfels, TX; Canyon Lake, TX
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: semiskilled occupations in manufacturer of automobiles
Max David was born on May 30, 1914 in Janesville (aka Smithmill), PA. He was the youngest of 11 children; his father was a coal miner.
He married Thelma Youngkin of Coalport, PA in the early spring of 1934, and they had a daughter, Bonnie, later that year. Three years later, he and Thelma's brother, along with a third young man, were charged with stealing copper wire from Clearfield County coal mines; Max was sentenced to 9-18 months.
By the time Max registered for the draft, on October 16, 1940, he was living in Brooklyn, New York, and unemployed.
He appears to have moved to Cleveland in June of 1941 (per a handwritten notation on his draft card). When he enlisted, on November 6, 1941, he was living in Summit County, Ohio, and working in "semiskilled occupations in manufacture of automobiles." He was separated from his wife.
During the summer of 1942, the 6'2" soldier was hospitalized in a military hospital for knee injuries he had sustained playing basketball prior to entering the service.
He earned the rank of Staff SGT in the Army.
He likely returned to Cleveland after the war; he is identified as living there by 1948 when he married his second wife. Veteran Arthur Shilstone visited Cleveland in 1954, to draw illustrations of the Sam Sheppard murder trial for Life magazine, and recalls having an after-work drink with his old sergeant. Arthur describes him as a factory foreman at the time.
In 1957 he married Rosemary Winesburgh (or possibly Wilesburg) in Cleveland, and the couple had a son. In 1962, Max and his family were still in Cleveland.
From 1954-1962 (possibly before and after that) Max played golf in the Cleveland Industrial League, as a member of the Eaton Manufacturing #2 team. Eaton was a manufacturer in the auto industry, which described his employment before the war.
Max and Rosemary divorced in March, 1987 in Comal County, TX, and a couple of months later he married Harriet Groves in Hays, TX.
Max and Harriet lived in New Braunfels, TX, and later in Canyon Lake, just outside of New Braunfels. He died on December 7, 1999 and is buried at Cranes Mill Cemetery (also known as Canyon Lake Cemetery) in Startzville, TX.
Photo:
Sources:
1934 article in Clearfield Progress (PA) re his marriage (#1)
1937 article in Clearfield Progress (PA) about his conviction for copper wire theft
1940 Draft Registration
1941 Enlistment Record
1942 Hospitalization Record
1954 story from Arthur Shilstone; courtesy of Rick Beyer
1957/1987 Marriage/Divorce Record (#2)
1962 article in Cleveland Plain Dealer (shows him playing golf in an industrial league for an auto industry manufacturer--fits his 1941 job description)
1986/1993 US Public Records Index
1987 Marriage Record (#3)
1999 Find a Grave record
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32875107/max-david
1999 US Veterans' Gravesites