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| Henry Pearson was killed when his company went in as the first wave at Dog Green, Omaha Beach on D-Day. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68276835/henry-benjamin-pearson tumblr_oksaw2pYnj1s7e5k5o1_500.jpg |
Henry B. Pearson, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on December 25, 1918 in Newington, Virginia which is just a few miles away from George Washington's Mount Vernon home. His parents Henry and Anna were born in Virginia and Maryland, respectively. His father worked as a storekeeper. Henry had one older brother, one younger brother and two younger sisters. By 1940 Henry had completed four years of high school. He was living with his parents and worked installing overhead garage doors.
Henry was drafted into the army on May 7, 1941. He was assigned to the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, composed of many other Virginia men who had been serving in the Virginia National Guard. He became a sergeant in Company A, 1st Battalion - the company that became infamous for the high concentration of soldiers killed on D-Day from Bedford, Virginia.
The 29th Infantry Division arrived in England at the early date of September 1942. While other units were sent to fight in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, the 29th Infantry Division stayed in England, training for 21 months and then was selected to be the first to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day at section Dog Green, June 6, 1944. Company A was the tip of the spear -- its men went in on the very first wave, divided among seven landing craft.
When 5,000 yards out, the men in Company A noticed that the beach in front of them was intact. The promised bombing to knock out obstacles and create craters to avoid direct fire had not materialized. When 700 yards out the landing craft became targets for German mortars and artillery. As soon as the landing craft hit the beaches and dropped their ramps, they became targets to heavy machine-gun fire. Drowning also became a problem as men found themselves stepping into water over their heads weighted down by equipment often more than half their body weight.
Those who survived the initial landing found no cover. They faced at least three German MG-42 machine guns that fired more than 1,000 rounds per minute and at least two dozen snipers. Those who survived the day stayed in the water and moved forward as the tide rolled in, dragging their wounded with them. Within 10 minutes Company A was out of action - all of its officers and sergeants were either dead or wounded, including Sgt. Pearson.
By the end of D-Day only 18 of Company A's 230 men were unhurt.
His grave is at Pohick Episcopal Church Cemetery in Lorton, Virginia.
Last year on this date I profiled US Naval Academy graduate Edward Cloues, who served on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. You can read about Henry 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
PFC John M. Burkhart, A Company, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, D-Day Casualty. PFC Burkhart was the only surviving child in his immediate family. I can't say much about him as his personal history seems lost to time. -Ken Janetsky (found him researching my family with same last name).
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Rip to the fallen soldiers in Normandy
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