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| Master Sergeant John Wilkes, 116th Infantry Regiment, was one of the first soldiers to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70733049 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/800374164998657452/?lp=true |
John L. Wilkes never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 20, 1919 in Virginia. His parents Leotie and Mary Elizabeth were also both born in Virginia. His father worked as a coal mine nurse and later as a farmer. John had two older sisters, one older brother and four younger sisters. By 1940 John had completed one year of high school, was still living at home and worked sometimes as a coal miner and sometimes as a farmer. He also served in the Virginia National Guard to make some extra money. He married his wife Bettie in August 1941.
John's National Guard unit was federalized on February 3, 1941 and became part of the regular army. Because of his serious nature and self discipline, he became a master sergeant in Company A, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. 34 other men from Bedford were also in the 1st Battalion, most of them in Company A.
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. As a master sergeant, Wilkes had an important role in maintaining discipline and morale in Company A as it trained. Company A was selected to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day June 6, 1944 at section Dog Green.
Company A was the tip of the spear -- its men went in on the very first wave divided among seven landing craft. Sgt. Wilkes was the second in command on his landing craft as it headed for the beach. As soon as the ramp dropped, Sgt. Wilkes was one of the first men off. He managed to move forward before German fire concentrated on the men disgorging from the craft. He made it out of the water unscathed but minutes later he was killed while firing his weapon at the German position labeled D-1.
By the end of D-Day only 18 of Company A's 230 men were unhurt.
A month after D-Day Bettie Wilkes was concerned that she had not received any letters from her husband after D-Day. At the Bedford Western Union telegraph office on July 17 the notices kept coming, one right after the other. Towns folks divvied up the telegrams to take the bad news to families. Bettie Wilkes was driven home from her factory job, knowing the news would not be good. A doctor had to give her a sedative to deal with her shock.
The small 3,200 strong community of Bedford lost 22 men in Normandy, 19 on D-Day. It was the greatest loss per size of home town from all of the war. The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford commemorates this sacrifice.
John Wilkes's grave is at Greenwood Cemetery in Bedford, Virginia. His widow remarried after the war.
To learn more about the boys from Bedford, I recommend the excellent book The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw.
Last year on this date I profiled Kermit Becker, 34th Infantry Division. You can read about Kermit 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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