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| Lt. Guy Earnest earned the Silver Star while serving with the 84th Infantry Division. The photo above, of 333rd Infantry Regiment troops, was taken the day he was killed. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37717926/guy-w-earnest https://www.pinterest.com/pin/555983516483476520/?lp=true |
Guy Winfred Earnest never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 27, 1919 in Virginia. His parents Walter and Ella were born in Tennessee and Virginia, respectively. His father worked as a carpenter. Guy had two older brothers and an older sister. His parents divorced in 1931. Ella took her children to Miami, Florida where she worked as a teacher.
Guy enlisted in the army much earlier than most of his contemporaries - October 1938. At some point he married and had a daughter. He joined as an enlisted man and made tech sergeant by June 1942. I don't know what unit he first served in but he was overseas during most of 1943, probably in Sicily and Italy. He may have received a battlefield officer's commission. He was sent home to provide experience junior officer leadership as a first lieutenant in the HQ Company, 334th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division (nicknamed "The Rail Splitters"). The 84th Infantry Division was a late arrival to the European theater of operations, not reaching England unit October 1944.
It first saw combat on November 18, 1944 north of Aachen, Germany. Lt. Earnest was a communications officer. On the second day of action he was killed while attempting the reestablish communications for his unit. A Miami newspaper reported he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. Unfortunately, I was not able to find the citation.
His grave is at Miami City Cemetery in Miami, Florida. I don't know what happened to his widow or daughter.
UPDATE
from Christine Hargis, the daughter of Lt. Earnest's widow:
When I found your blog I saw a face I haven't seen in a very long time. I recognized the picture in your blog from a picture I looked at a lot as a small child of a tall slender man in a uniform with a dog.
My mother's maiden name was Ruby Lea Humphrey. My mother's first husband was Guy Earnest. All I know about him is what my mother said about him. He was the Love of her life and he was killed in WWII when my oldest sister was a baby. She was poor so she did not have the money to bring Guy home. Guy's family was angry with her and ultimately shut her and my sister out of their lives. Guy's family saved their money and they did bring Guy home but never said anything to my mother after that.
My Mother remarried about the time my oldest sister was 9 years old and she had my sister, my brother and me.
Last year on this date I profiled Okinawa fallen, Seaman Elmer Williams, USS Braine. You can read about Elmer 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
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