Identified V-Mail and Letters Grouping
Identified to Sgt. Roy N. Harrison - E Company, 331st Infantry Regiment
Grouping of then original WWII V-Mail letters and twelve original letters written by Sgt. Roy Harrison to his wife. The V-Mails are August / September 1944 dated ande the letters November to December 1944 dated. All the envelopes contains there original letter. The V-Mail and the letters exhibit period wear including period folds and/or age toning, torn envelopes, stains, soiling.
Note that Sgt. Roy Harrison was killed in action on January 13, 1945 during a German counter offensive during the Battle of the Bulge.
clicking on any of the covers will direct you to the letter
Sgt. Roy W. Marsh
Sergeant
Roy W. Marsh
Sergeant Roy N. Harrison
Roy Norman Harrison was born on November 24, 1916 in Shive, Texas as the son of Ray Q. and Nell Harrison. Roy Harrison married Dorothy Dale Jones in 1935. He married his second wife Marie George in 1942. He was a ranchman and farmer before enlisted in 1942.
He went into the service (#38132270) on May 6, 1942 and recived his basic training at Camp Wolters, Mineral Wells, Texas with Company D of the 57th Infantry Training Battalion. Roy going overseas and landed in Liverpool, England, and from there to Southampton were he crossed the channel on a L.S.T. to Omaha Beach. There he climmed the steep banks where many boys gave their lives. From there he spent several days in a replacement depot. On august 14, 1944, just after the break through out of Normandy, close to St. Briack, France, Roy Harrison joined E Company, 331st Infantry Regiment. He fought at Nantes with E Company as a squad leader keeping the Germans held within the St. Nazaire pocket and continued to fight trough France, Luxembourg and into Belgium, even reaching the Ruhr River in Germany. After surviving difficult battles in the Hurtgen Forrest, Harrison was promoted to Staff Sergeant on December 15, 1944 and became a squad leader. He was reported MIA on January 13, 1945 and ultimately his status was changed to KIA as E/331st fought their way through Bihain, Belgium.
His death is detailed in a letter written by one of Harrison’s squad members and friend.
On the night of the January 12, 1945:
We attacked a crossroad 2500 yards south of Bihian, Belgium. We got on our objective fairly easy. It was very late at night the Germans made this terrific counter attack. In the cause of the attack we had quite a few killed. Roy saw this German first. His rifle had frozen up and failed to fire. The German up and shot, it hit roy close to the heart. I belive through a lung. We crawled over to him where the medic bandanged him up. His breathing was bad and we could tell he was bleeding internally. Roy could talk and just as calm as ever told us what happened that he was hit. He mentioned he though of you learning he was hit. He said he was in very little pain, but was getting cold. So four of us took our overcoats and wrapped him up. To try and make him as comfortable as possible. The attack was getting worse and we were loosing more men. The only way we could move was crawl. Roy told us to take what men was left and try and get out of there. We told him we would attack back as soon as possible and bring a litter. I am sure Roy realized he wouldn’t live. He was only interested in the rest of us getting out. The next morning at day break I led the attack myself to find him dead.
The original letter courtesy of Ben Nightingale.
Roy N. Harrison was originally buried in Foy, Belgium but his wife requested his body be repatriated back to the United States. In April of 1949, his body was returned and buried in Texas. For his service he was awarded, among other decorations, the Combat Infantry Badge, the European African Middle-Eastern Campaign Medal and the Purple Heart Medal.
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