A Slatington soldier was selected for the Faces of Cambridge to commemorate men who didn’t return and are buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery.

The staff at the cemetery wanted a way to bring the memory of these Americans to life – to put a face to the name.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ezra Kreiss was killed in a training exercise weeks before D-day. He died on April 28, 1944, in Slapton Sands, Devon and is buried in Cambridge American Cemetery in the United Kingdom.

Just 23 years old, he was killed during Exercise Tiger, one of the larger-scale rehearsals for the D-day Invasion of Normandy.

An Allied naval convoy involved in the exercise was attacked by German submarines, and coordination and communication problems resulted in friendly fire deaths.

At least 749 American servicemen were killed.

His son, Ezra Kreiss, never knew his father, as he had just been born after his father left to go overseas.

Last Memorial Day, Ezra visited Cambridge Cemetery near Slapton Sands.

Now, Kreiss is part of the Faces of Cambridge project, with a marker that can be seen a short distance from his headstone in the Gnaden Huetten Cemetery in Lehighton.

Local historian Ron Rabenold noted they picked four Americans out of 3,000.

“They told Ez his dad is their favorite,” Rabenold said. “They simply love his face.

So they use him often in publications and such. He seems to ever be on their minds.”

Born on June 25, 1921, in Slatington, he was the son of Joseph D. Kreiss and Minnie I. Fries Kreiss.

He served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a staff sergeant in the 3206th Quartermaster Service Company.