PVT Samuel Lee Wright

courtesy of Darrell Landrum

PVT Samuel Lee Wright was born 13 Apr 1920 in Amherst County, Virginia. He was the 2nd of 5 children and oldest son born to Robert Lee and Hester Elizabeth (Hamilton) Wright. His father's formal education had ended with the 2nd grade and he farmed a rented farm in the Pedlar district of Amherst county before moving to Lynchburg, Virginia to work as a moulder in a foundry. The family was renting a home at 804 Withers Street in that city for $12 a month and later moved to 1417 Clay Street where monthly rent was only $10. His mother died of tuberculosis in 1930 age 36. Robert remarried in September 1931 marrying Mary Dorothy Tyree and the couple would have 3 more children. He and  Samuel's education ended with the 7th grade. By 1940 his father was working as a laborer on a road construction crew, probably in a Works Progress Administration program and Samuel had taken a job working in a hatchery where he had reportedly earned only $150 in 1939 despite working 40 weeks. In contrast, his father reported $250 income for 25 weeks work in that same year. The family's entire combined income to support 8 people was $800. Money was likely the strongest motivator for Samuel to enlist in the Virginia Army National Guard.

Samuel was serving in B Company 116th Infantry when the unit was federalized (mobilized) on 3 Feb 1941. He then trained with the unit at Fort George Meade, Maryland, near Fort Bragg, North Carolina and at Camp Blanding, Florida before going to England with the unit in September 1942. Once in England he trained with the regiment for the planned amphibious landing on the coast of Normandy. PVT Wright was serving in 1st Platoon B Company when he took part in that landing on 6 Jun 1944 and survived, unwounded, and continued to fight with his unit until killed in action on 18 Jun 1944. 

PVT Wright was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in Presbyterian Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia. 

Older brother, John Joseph Wright, also served in the U.S. Army during WW2. He was injured when his jeep was in an accident and later wounded in action when he was shot in October 1944.