Front cover of the pamphlet "The Thunderbolt Across Europe," which details the history of the 83rd Infantry Division in World War II.The following day, the first and third Battalions drove 2,500 meters (slightly over 1-1/2 miles) to Culot and were heavily counterattacked by SS troops, but held their positions. It is likely that this is where PFC Whiteman was killed in action on July 5th. Although he did not live to see it, his participation helped the Division fight their way through France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. On September 17, 1944, they facilitated the mass surrender of 20,000 German troops on the banks of the Loire River in France and fought to within 35 miles of Berlin, becoming the closest American unit to Hitler’s capital. After reviewing the 329th Infantry, General George Patton called them the “finest body of soldiers I have ever seen in the field.”
PFC Roy L. Whiteman was buried in the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France in Plot D, Row 25 in Grave 37. He is remembered, with his comrades who also fell, in a pamphlet giving an informal unit history of the Thunderbolts with the following sentiment: “…our dead and wounded, left behind along the highways and trails of six nations…We owe our stature, our existence to the blood they spilt, to the cries born of their pain. They are gone from us now but we shall never forget them.”
PFC Roy L. Whiteman was buried in the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France in Plot D, Row 25 in Grave 37. He is remembered, with his comrades who also fell, in a pamphlet giving an informal unit history of the Thunderbolts with the following sentiment: “…our dead and wounded, left behind along the highways and trails of six nations…We owe our stature, our existence to the blood they spilt, to the cries born of their pain. They are gone from us now but we shall never forget them.”
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