Col. Sterling Womack LeJEUNE 0-557727
Colonel Sterling Womack LeJEUNE O-557727 US Army. He was born on January 16, 1922, in Abbeville, Louisiana. He was the son of Arthur Andre LeJEUNE Sr. and Maude Butler “Sidoux ” WOMACK LeJEUNE. He was also the brother of Arthur Andre LeJEUNE Jr. 18149406 KIA. Sterling had two sons and one daughter with Ann Claire Humphries.
At the time of his enlistment he was 5 foot 11 and 1/2 inches tall weighed 185 pounds and had Hazel eyes and Brown hair. He served as a Lieutenant in World War Two. He entered 4th Platoon, Company K, 253rd Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division on September 8, 1944 at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. He went overseas in November 1944. He earned his 1st Purple Heart Medal on March 17, 1945. On April 5, 1945 he earned his Silver Star Medal at Mochauhl, Germany.
On April 5, 1945 at Mochauhl, Germany, K Company became disorganized and sought cover upon coming under heavy enemy mortar and direct artillery fire. Despite the heavy barrage, Lieutenant LeJeune reorganized and personally led the company to safety. Lieutenant LeJeune then returned to help several wounded to safety and at one point protected one of them from shell fragments with his own body.
On April 10, 1945 he earned his 1st Bronze Star Medal for valor in the vicinity of Lampoldshausen, Germany. During an attack the enemy enabling the riflemen to make a direct assault on the position. He led his machine gun section into town and directed their fire while the town was being cleared. On April 12, 1945 he earned his 2nd Purple Heart Medal. Lieutenant LeJEUNE may have been the Lieutenant that PFC Eugene Bennett Reich carried off the battlefield on April 12, 1945 the other person it may have been is Lieutenant Albert Mitchell Sloop.
Sterling left K Company on July 10, 1945 he entered I Company, 253rd Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division. After the war he stayed in the US Army and served in the Korean War. He retired from the US Army at the rank of Colonel. He was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Silver Star Medal, the Purple Heart Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star Medal with V and 2 Oak Leaf cluster, The American Theater of operations, the European Theater of Operations Medal ETO with 4 battle star, the World War Two Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal. He died on November 12, 1991, in Lafayette, Louisiana, at the age of 69.
Sources
1- 63rd Infantry Division records
2- 1930 United States Federal Census
3- 1940 United States Federal Census
4- U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
5- U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
6- Photograph of him is from balrock811 on ancestry
7- the U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947