Roy L. Whiteman as a Freshman at Pennville HIgh School in 1934 - 1935.Roy L. Whiteman was a 1938 graduate of Pennville High School and a member of the 329th Infantry Regiment who, on June 23, 1944, stormed Normandy during the critical Operation Neptune invasions. The invasions began on D-Day (June 6, 1944) and lasted through June 30. The Regiment ultimately resulted in facilitating the surrender of 20,000 German troops.
Whiteman was born in 1920, the son of Ernest J. M. and M. Alda Whiteman of Penn Township and before the war worked as an electrician at the Miller Machine Works at 115 North Depot Street in Portland, Indiana. On January 4, 1942, he married Ruth Dean, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Dean of Ridgeville.
After enlisting in the military at Indianapolis as a Private on October 13, 1942, he began basic training at Camp Atterbury in Columbus, Indiana. After basic training, Whiteman was sent to Camp Breckenridge in Kentucky. On April 7, 1944 he was shipped overseas as a Private First Class with the 329th Infantry Regiment, a part of the 83rd Infantry Division.
The 83rd Infantry Division, known “The Thunderbolt Across Europe,” first traveled to Wales and England, to prepare for battle. They spent some Sundays that Spring in Midland villages and remarked that the pubs, inns and girls “were a little bit like home.” But the troops were badly needed in Normandy. Life on the other side of the Channel was an unknown quantity, and certain battle loomed ahead. After a short crossing, the Regiment did not disembark due to a storm that rose “out of nowhere” and slashed at Omaha Beach, their intended destination. For a week the crew waited, growing impatient and afraid of becoming a giant target for Germany’s Luftwaffe.
On July 4th, the big battle began and the 2nd Battalion attempted to cross the swamp southwest of the French town of Carentan, but was met with very heavy resistance by German paratroopers and were unable to gain a foothold on the opposite bank. An eye witness noted that “everything was hedged or walled-in and mined. There was no room for breathing anything but air made putrid by carcasses or horses and cows and what remained of soldiers uniformed in khaki or green. The battle was everywhere.”
Whiteman was born in 1920, the son of Ernest J. M. and M. Alda Whiteman of Penn Township and before the war worked as an electrician at the Miller Machine Works at 115 North Depot Street in Portland, Indiana. On January 4, 1942, he married Ruth Dean, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Dean of Ridgeville.
After enlisting in the military at Indianapolis as a Private on October 13, 1942, he began basic training at Camp Atterbury in Columbus, Indiana. After basic training, Whiteman was sent to Camp Breckenridge in Kentucky. On April 7, 1944 he was shipped overseas as a Private First Class with the 329th Infantry Regiment, a part of the 83rd Infantry Division.
The 83rd Infantry Division, known “The Thunderbolt Across Europe,” first traveled to Wales and England, to prepare for battle. They spent some Sundays that Spring in Midland villages and remarked that the pubs, inns and girls “were a little bit like home.” But the troops were badly needed in Normandy. Life on the other side of the Channel was an unknown quantity, and certain battle loomed ahead. After a short crossing, the Regiment did not disembark due to a storm that rose “out of nowhere” and slashed at Omaha Beach, their intended destination. For a week the crew waited, growing impatient and afraid of becoming a giant target for Germany’s Luftwaffe.
On July 4th, the big battle began and the 2nd Battalion attempted to cross the swamp southwest of the French town of Carentan, but was met with very heavy resistance by German paratroopers and were unable to gain a foothold on the opposite bank. An eye witness noted that “everything was hedged or walled-in and mined. There was no room for breathing anything but air made putrid by carcasses or horses and cows and what remained of soldiers uniformed in khaki or green. The battle was everywhere.”
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