 |
| Pvt. Jack Leonard, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment fought at St Mere Eglise. The painting shown here is by Larry Selman. The photo is a newspaper clip from an unidentified source kept by a family member of Pvt. Leonard. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/126244107/jack-r-leonard https://www.amazon.com/Drop-Zone-Eglise-Selman-Airborne/dp/B01EM1HYII |
Jack R. Leonard never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 18, 1918 in Washington. His parents Luther and Hazel were born in Illinois and South Dakota, respectively. Luther's first wife and all three of his children died within a day of each other in 1915 in what must have been some type of accident. Luther worked as a farmer. Jack's parents separated before 1930. His mom got a job as a cook. Jack had one older sister. By 1940 Jack had completed four years of high school and was living with his mother while working as a plumber.
He joined the US Army on February 27, 1942 and volunteered to serve as a paratrooper. He became a private in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
Pvt. Leonard's unit made its first combat jump into Sicily on July 10, 1943. It made its second combat jump at Salerno on September 14. In October the 505th PIR was pulled out of the line and sent to England to prepare for the invasion of France.
Pvt. Leonard and his fellow paratroopers boarded C-47 transport planes on the evening of June 5, 1944 for the flight over Normandy. Enemy flak scattered the planes causing most men to drop away from their planned drop zones. Pvt. Leonard ended up at St Mere Eglise, the first village liberated by Americans in the fight through France. On D+1 Pvt. Leonard was caught in a open field and killed by enemy artillery. A commemorative plaque at the site is still there (shown above).
His grave is at Riverside Memorial Park in Spokane, Washington.
Last year on this date I profiled Lt Commander Walter Hering, a USNA grad who served on the destroyer USS Hazelwood. You can read about Walter here.
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!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
In memory of pvt Jack LEONARD, K. I. A. June 7, 1944 Sainte Mere Eglise. Greatest Generation of America.
ReplyDelete