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| Lt. Jeff Corley, 1st Armored Division, was killed near where this photo was taken. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10620038/jeff-t-corley https://www.pinterest.com/pin/844776842574432470/ |
Jeff T. Corley never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on March 27, 1918 in Texas. His parents Owen and Mattie were born in Tennessee and Texas, respectively. His father worked as a farmer. Jeff had one older sister and four older brothers. One of his brothers earn a Purple Heart fighting in the Pacific.
Jeff completed two years of college, and worked as a financial clerk at a Dallas Bank. He married Alice Stone.
He enlisted in the army on March 21, 1941. He became a first lieutenant in Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Armored Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division. He left for North Africa in November 1943. Once there he was assigned as a replacement in the 1st Armored Division which was sent to fight the enemy in Italy just north of Naples. Next it took part in the invasion at Anzio.
In early June the 1st AD helped liberate Rome from the Germans. Towards the end of June it was sent to fight in the mountains north of Grosetto. Lt. Corley was killed in action on June 23, 1944 when the 1st AD was facing superior Tiger tanks in mountainous terrain that was difficult for tanks tasked with advancing.
His grave is at Mills Cemetery in Garland, Texas. I don't know what happened to his widow.
Last year on this date I profiled Frank Winterling who served with the Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal. He was the second of two brothers killed in the war. What his father did after the death of his boys is amazing. You can read about the Winterling family 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
I knew his widow, Alice Stone Corley. She lived in East Tennessee after the war and was a very good friend of my family. She never remarried and she died in March, 2000.
ReplyDeleteWould you like to see his story added to the www.storiesbehindthestars.org project? don@storiesbehindthestars.org
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