Private Joseph De Freitas.

Private Joseph De Freitas of Yonkers, New York, 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, 2nd US Armored Division.  France.

Pvt De Freitas is heating food on a portable stove and is wearing the World War Two U.S. camouflage uniform which is rarely seen in photos from the ETO as it was found to confuse American solders with German troops, who more frequently wore camouflage.  Usually when it is seen, it is worn by snipers, but no sniping rifle is depicted in this July 1944 photograph.  De Freitos is carrying binoculars or perhaps a monocular, so he may have had a spotting role of some sort, or perhaps his rifle just isn't in the photograph.  However, he was assigned to an anti tank section, so its probable that his role at the time had something to do with spotting.

De Freitas was Portuguese by birth and had only come to the United States in 1937.  He entered the Army in March, 1941 and served until October, 1945.  He saw action in North Africa, Sicily, France, Holland and Germany, and therefore was an exceptionally experienced soldier.  After the war he married Beatrice Cabral de Mellow in the Church of the Ascension in New York City.  He became a carpenter for the U.S. Postal Service and worked for it until his retirement in 1973.  He died in 2005 at age 89.