A French researcher contacted me to ask what I knew of a friendly fire incident involving the 24th Cav Recon and the 22nd Infantry.
This was the 22nd Infantry Journal entry he found.
Transcription: Lt. Henry returned from 1st Bn. with report that there was a mixup among the 24th Cav. and tank troops. A lot of firing and misunderstanding of the enemy. Tanks reported to be 400 or 500 yds off objective. Believe a captain from 24th was killed by our troops. Lt. Henry sort of straightened things out.
This entry for June 23 1944 is the day after 2nd Lt. Joseph Gresham is reported killed in the squadron After Action Report.
Although the 22nd Infantry Journal refers to ‘a captain from 24th’ there is no record in the squadron’s reports of a captain being killed. It therefore seems likely that this is the incident in which Joe Gresham died.
Little else can be said with full confidence about this, but Joe was the only officer killed at that time and it seems reasonable to assume that in the fog of war a good faith mistake was made in the 22nd Infantry Journal.
The squadron After Action report does not mention the circumstances of Joe’s death but it is possible that institutional restraint from attributing blame would account for that.
Adding to the circumstantial evidence is the fact that the squadron was attached to the 22nd Infantry at that time, putting the two units in close proximity.
With thanks to Jérémy Andersen Bö, who is writing a book on the 4th Infantry Division. Some of his work can be found on Facebook here and on Instagram here.