206006 Cpl. Lionel E. Roy United States Army 9th Field Artillary Btn. from:Pawtucket, RI, USA Mr. Roy, formally of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, served in World War 2 in General Patton's Army, 9th Field Artillery Battalion, as a Radio Operator. His 3rd Division first saw action as a part of the Western Task Force in the North African invasion, landing at Fedala on November 8, 1942, and captured half of French Morocco.
Months later, on July 10, 1943, the 3rd Division made an assault landing on Sicily. His Division faced intensive action as they drove across Sicily. On September 11, 1943, during the assault on Sicily Private Roy was forced to vacate his position under heavy enemy artillery barrages. Later, however, he crawled back into the continuing artillery assault to relay messages to friendly artillery batteries so that their fire could be concentrated on enemy positions. For his valor and courage under fire Mr. Roy was awarded the Silver Star Medal, the third highest award behind the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Medal.
His Division was then ordered to hit the beaches at Anzio, one of the bloodiest battles of the War, where for four months it maintained its toe-hold against furious German counterattacks. On February 29, 1944, the 3rd fought off an attack by three German Divisions. It suffered more than 900 casualties the most in one day of any division in World War 2.
In May, 1944 the Division broke out of Anzio and drove on to Rome, and then from there went on to the invasion of Southern France. On August 15, 1944, the Division landed at St. Tropez. During the landing, under heavy fire, Mr. Roy, now Corporal Roy, was wounded and was awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He recovered and rejoined his unit and fought at the Siegfried Line, Nuremburg, Augsburg, Munich and Salzburg.
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