PFC Raymond Laraway Sanford Jr. was born 13 Aug 1923 in Washington, D.C. He was the youngest of the 4 children born to Raymond Laraway and Ailene Caswell (Leffingwell) Sanford. His father was a physicist working for the U.S. Government Bureau of Standards in 1930 and the family lived at 6707 46th Street in Bethesda, Maryland which was valued at $11,000 in 1930. Coming from a family of means, Raymond and his siblings all completed high school and attended college. Raymond graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and began his college education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Raymond felt he had to serve and voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army in November 1942 having completed only 1 year of college. After his basic military training he was sent to England and assigned to G Company 116th Infantry. He trained with the unit in preparation for the planned amphibious assault and was injured in a fall in October 1943 seriously enough to be sent to hospital but recovered. He was with his unit on 6 Jun 1944, D-Day, and fought with the unit until shot in the abdomen on 9 Jun 1944. Despite receiving treatment he died of his wound that same day.
PFC Sanford rests forever in the Normandy American Cemetery.
His sister, Elizabeth M. Sanford, served as a LTjg in the U.S. Navy working with communication codes.
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