 |
| Lt. Joe Albritton served in the 3rd Infantry Division from Anzio to the Vosges Mountains. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35882418/joe-calvin-albritton/photo https://www.pinterest.com/pin/538672805423829814/ |
Joe Calvin "Cowboy" Albritton never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 9, 1918 in Louisiana. His parents Enoch and Fay were also both born in Louisiana. His father worked as a farmer and later as a grocery merchant. Joe had one older brother and three younger brothers. Joe graduated from Louisiana Tech in 1939 and worked as a high school teacher and coach.
He enlisted in the Army on June 18, 1941 as a private but he became a first lieutenant in Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
Lt. Albritton joined his unit in March 1944 as a replacement during the hard fought Battle of Anzio which would continue until June. He survived the fighting in Italy and next saw action in France in August 1944.
He was killed in action on October 22, 1944 while the 7th IR participated in an attack against Germans in the Vosges Mountains. His family got the telegram announcing the sad news on his birthday.
His grave is at Taylor / Liberty Hill Cemetery in Farmerville, Louisiana.
THOMAS FEREBEE
Also born on the same day as Joe Albritton was Thomas Ferebee of North Carolina. The third of eleven children, Thomas was an accomplished athlete in school and even tried out for the Boston Red Sox.
Thomas joined the Army Air Forces and was trained as a bombardier. He flew more than 60 bombing missions in Europe. He was picked by Colonel Paul Tibbets to be the bombardier on his B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay. Lt. Ferebee was the bombardier on the mission that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
 |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ferebee |
Last year on this date I profiled Russell Lee who fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima for the 5th Marine Division. You can read about Russell 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
No comments:
Post a Comment