SGT. Lewis Darnley Leslie
Lewis was born on May 20, 1922 in Millville, NJ to Arthur Robert Leslie and Amy Gertrude Sinclair Watson Leslie. Both parents were born in Barbados and immigrated to the USA when they were in their twenties.
Not much is known about Lewis when he was young, my mother never really wanted to talk about her youngest brother. After graduation from high school, he worked for a short time at the cotton mill/ bleachery which was part of the Millville Manufacturing Company. A service photo shows that he was a very handsome young man. He was not married and enlisted on December 16, 1942.. A newspaper article reported he was given a farewell turkey dinner and presented with a wrist watch by his parents. He was sent to Fort Dix, NJ and assigned to the 7th Army,100th Infantry Division, 399 Infantry Regiment and was a 3rd Century Division Ranger. He was one of the original members of the 399 th when it was formed on November 1, 1944. The records show he was an assistant squad leader.
At the age of 22, He was Killed in Action on April 18, 1945 in Bielstein, Germany. This was just 19 days before the end of the fighting in Germany. According to a book written by John M Khoury, Love Company, Lewis was at the base of a hill with his company while most of the men already up the hill when the Germans launched a counter attack. The Germans fired mortar shells onto the hill and Lewis was hit along with four others.
Here is the excerpt from Mr. Khoury’s book:
“Love Company received the heaviest shelling because it was exposed on the side of the hill after K and I Companies had already reached the summit. During the bombardment, 34 men were wounded and nine were killed, including S. S g t . Nick Franzini, whose premonition came true.
The others were Pfc. Robert P. Ahlborn, Sgt. Glenn D. Fischer, Sgt. James R. Hawkins, Sgt. Lewis D. Leslie and Pfc. John P. Stuart, all of whom were original members of the company and had survived almost six months of combat.” (page 103)
Doris Leslie, his sister, rarely mentioned her brother Lewis. She did mention at one time that when his belongings were returned to his parents the wrist watch and his school ring were not among the items. Doris also mentioned that her mother woke up on the day of Lewis’s death and said in a matter of factly that Lewis was had been killed. She heard him call out to her in the night.
The Leslie family lost 2 sons and a son-in-law in WWII.