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| Pfc. Francis Westbrooks (left) was in the 3rd Infantry Division, as was the soldier on the right. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57124283&ref=acom https://www.militaryimages.net/media/us-3rd-infantry-division-soldier-ww2.85520/ |
Francis X. Westbrooks never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 17, 1917 in North Carolina. His parents were also both born in North Carolina. His father worked as a cutter mill beamer. Francis had two younger brothers (one returned home from the war) and two younger sisters. He completed eight years of school. He married his wife Annie Lou on September 2, 1939. They had a son and a daughter.
He enlisted in the army on December 16, 1943. Prior to that he had been working with a textile job and was separated from his wife. He became a private first class and joined the
15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division as a replacement, possibly in Italy after the 15th Infantry Regiment needed to replace losses from Anzio.
The 15th Infantry Regiment took part in the invasion of southern France and then fought through the Vosges Mountains and the Colmar Pocket. On March 15 it attacked the Siegfried Line south of Zweibrucken. Pfc. Westbrooks was killed in action two days later on March 17, 1945.
His grave is at Overlook Cemetery, Eden, North Carolina. His widow never remarried and died just four years ago in 2013.
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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