PFC Cole L. Blease Plyler

courtesy of Ann M. Price

PFC Cole L. Blease Plyler was born 2 Oct 1918 in Monroe, North Carolina. Blease, as the family preferred to call him, was the youngest of the 5 children born to Vance Dave and Artelia (Threatt) Plyler. The family farmed. Blease's only brother died of heart disease in 1934. His mother died of pellagra in 1936. Father Vance died of uremia in 1940 and Blease moved to live with his sister Alma and her family in Monroe. Blease went to work as farm labor for Henry Penegar in Monroe in 1940. Sister Myrtle died of a stroke at age 27 in 1941. Blease then went to work for Edd D. Williams as a plumber's assistant.

Blease was drafted in May 1942. After his basic military training he was sent to England and assigned to L Company 116th Infantry. He prepared with that unit for the amphibious landing that took place on 6 Jun 1944 on the Normandy beach code-named "Omaha". He then fought with the unit until killed in action on 16 Jun 1944.

PFC Plyler was repatriated in 1949 and re-interred in the Midway United Methodist Church Cemetery in Monroe, North Carolina.