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| Cpl. LeRoy Elliott with wife and child prior to his deployment to the South Pacific. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=18878964&ref=acom |
LeRoy L. Elliott never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 19, 1917 in Ohio. His parents were also both born in Ohio. His father worked as a machine shop machinist and later a lathe operator. LeRoy had three younger brothers and four younger sisters. By 1940 LeRoy had completed four years of high school. He was working as a machinist while still living at home.
He enlisted in the army on October 15, 1940. While in the service he married his wife Eva Marie. They had one child.
He advanced to the rank of corporal in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division (nicknamed "Buckeye Division").
The 37th Infantry Division was first assigned to a defensive roll in Fiji in June 1942. Its first offensive assignment was the New Georgia Campaign to capture the Japanese airbase at Munda in July 1943. Cpl. Elliott was part of a night beach landing on July 5, 1943. He was moving through heavy jungle on the way to attack the airbase when he was wounded on July 7.
On what would have been LeRoy's 26th birthday, his family no doubt celebrated his birthday at home in Sidney, Ohio, hoping it would be his last away from home. They did not know that he had been wounded 12 days earlier and had died two days before on July 17, 1943. It would be two more weeks before they got the telegram with the terrible news.
His grave is at Graceland Cemetery, Sidney, Ohio. I don't know what happened to his wife and child.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
To mark having over 100,000 visits to my project to honor the fallen of WW2 on their 100th birthdate, I created this video to share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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