Liberty and Memorial Day

I was a little late to get this published for  Memorial Day so I am sharing on social media and I hope you enjoy.        

The citizens of France twice awaited soldiers from the United States to travel the Atlantic and restore liberty.?Twice America’s finest laid down their lives for people they did not know far from home in the name of liberty.?53,402 American soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice in World War I and 407,300 died on the fields of honor across the globe in World War II.?Each has a story and all have lives worth remembering.?

As you enjoy your Memorial Day Holiday, take a minute to remember one of these heroes.?Technical Sergeant Frank Peregoy’s mother died while pregnant with her twelfth child when Frank was 15 years-old in 1931.?He dropped out of high school to help provide for this family.?To earn extra income he joined the Virginia Army National Guard by lying about his age.?This was common in that era as my great uncle joined the Navy at 14 during World War II.?The Guard assigned Frank to Company K, 116th?Regiment of the 29th?Infantry Division in Charlottesville, Virginia.?Frank stayed in the Guard for the next decade and married Bessie Kirby in 1941.?However, as countries around the world fell to occupiers, President Roosevelt mobilized the entire Virginia National Guard to active duty the same year.

It did not take long for Frank to distinguish himself in uniform.?In 1942, his unit was training in Hobucken, North Carolina when his patrol truck slid off an icy road into a canal. One of the men in the truck did not come up from the water.?Without hesitation, Frank immediately jumped into the freezing water with no concern for his safety.?He cut a hole in the canvas tarp over the truck and dove multiple times until he brought the private out to safety.?For his actions he was awarded the Soldier’s Medal which is the highest award for an?act of valor in a non-combat situation.?This is a very rare medal and you are lucky to meet a veteran who actually received a Soldier’s Medal.?However, this is not the end of his heroic story.

??????????Two years later Frank Peregoy stormed the Beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944.?Like the generation of 29th?Division Veterans that fought to restore liberty to France in World War I, Peregoy and his comrades in the 29th?Infantry Division stormed fortress Europe to restore liberty.?While thousands perished on the beach that morning Frank managed to make it out alive. It is what he did on June 8, 1944 that many remember.?His unit moved toward a town called Saint-Lo when German machine gunners in a trench fortification pinned them down.??Tank and artillery shells did not drive the Germans out of their position.?Without orders or hesitation, Frank single handedly maneuvered to the flank of the trench line and jumped in disregarding his personal safety.?He fought with a ferocious courage that led to him taking the entire fortification capturing 32 prisoners ending the threat to his unit.

???????????Sadly, he was killed in combat a week later and he is buried in the cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach featured in the movie Saving Private Ryan.?He is buried along with a president’s son, 45 sets of brothers, and two fellow Medal of Honor heroes of the total of 9,386 Americans laid to rest in the cemetery.?For his actions, President Truman presented our nation’s highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, to Bessie in 1945 that reads “The extraordinary gallantry and aggressiveness displayed by T/Sgt. Peregory are exemplary of the highest traditions of the Armed Forces.”??Out of the?approximately?16,000,000 Americans to serve in World War II Frank is one of the only two to receive both the Soldier’s Medal and the Congressional Medal of Honor and one of three in the history of the United States Armed Forces.????????????

???????????Memorial Day is the day we remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice.?There is a reason the 29th’s famous yin yang patch is memorialized all over France.?From granite patches to stained glass windows, France honors American units as a remembrance of the cost of freedom.?We all agree that Frank’s life is worth remembering and future generations can learn from the sacrifices of so many to restore liberty.?Hopefully, others are inspired by his actions and want to emulate his willingness to serve a cause greater than self-interest.?Without these warriors we are only a generation from losing our own liberty.

?Rusty E. McGuire is commonwealth's attorney of Louisa County and a Colonel in the Virginia Army National Guard. He served in operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom and previously served in the 29th?Infantry Division.?