COL Sidney Vincent Bingham Jr

COL Sidney Vincent Bingham Jr. was born 4 May 1915 in Douglas, Arizona. He was the first-born of the 5 children born to COL Sidney Vincent Bingham Sr. and Margaret Patterson (Nix) Bingham. This is a concise biography by the United States Military Academy Association of Graduates:

"His father, Sidney Vincent Bingham Sr. was a member of the USMA Class of 1912, His grandfather, Gonzalez S. Bingham, received a direct commission in 1883. His great-grandfather, Judson David Bingham, was a member of the USMA Class of 1854. He grew up at Fort Riley, Fort Meade and West Point. He entered West Point with the class of 1937, but graduated with the class of 1940. At graduation, he received his commission in the Infantry-Air Corps. After a brief attempt at pilot training, he joined the 2nd Division at Fort Sam Houston. Soon after graduation he met Rosemary Chapman in Dallas. They were married on April 6, 1941 in Dallas. They were the parents of three daughters. After a year with the 4th Armored Division, he joined the G3 Section of ETOUSA, England in April 1943. He was soon sent as an observer with the 3rd Division during the invasion and campaign in Sicily, from June to August 1932.
In September 1943, he joined the 29th Division in England and several months later assumed command of a battalion in the 116th Infantry. He led the unit into Normandy on D-Day. His leadership earned him the Distinguished Service Cross. He was wounded in August and hospitalized five weeks, but he returned to the Division and assumed command of the 116th in December, leading his regiment until the Division was deactivated in December 1945. After the war, he was assigned to the Army Field Forces, the Pentagon, National War College, the CIA, Hawaii, Fort Polk, Korea, Fort Bragg and twice in Vietnam. In 1970 he retired with his wife to Aspen, Colorado. For a short time, he served as general manager of the Snowmass Resort. He became involved in planning for a city transportation system which involved designing routes, lobbying the City Council and searching for vehicles. He served as secretary and on the Board of Directors for the Aspen Camp School for the Deaf. In 1972 he started the Aspen Retired Senior Volunteer Program. He became chair for the Colorado Board of Nursing Home examiners, served as Colorado’s representative to the White House Conference on Aging, president of the board of directors of the Pitkin County Community Health Services and was appointed by the governor to be commissioner-at-large on aging for the state."

COL Bingham received the Distinguished Service Cross for actions on 6 Jun 1944 while serving as Commander, 1st Battalion 116th Infantry Regiment. The citation reads as follows:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Major (Infantry) Sidney Vincent Bingham, Jr. (ASN: 0-23267), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces on 6 June 1944, at Normandy, France. When his battalion was pinned down on the beach by the heavy and intense enemy fire, Major Bingham gathered together five of his men and personally led them across the beach and up a cliff in an attempt to seek out an enemy machine gun that had been inflicting heavy casualties on his unit. Though unable to reach the machine gun, he was, nevertheless, able to discover its location. He returned to the fire-swept beach and organized a flank and rear attach which succeeded in taking the enemy position, thereby permitting his unit to advance. Major Bingham's superior leadership, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 29th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.

 COL Bingham died 22 Aug 1993 in Aspen, Colorado and he was cremated. 

 

BG William James Perry

BG William James Perry was born 20 Jan 1866 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the 1st of 4 children born to the Reverend William James and Harriet Ruff (Martin) Perry. His father was a minister of the Baltimore conference of the Methodist Church (south) and moved the family to Staunton, Virginia as part of his work. However, Reverend Perry died at age 39 in 1878 after a protracted illness. William attended local public schools before attending Dunsmore Business College. He was a bookkeeper for Augusta National Bank in 1885 when he decided to leave banking for the insurance business. He saw opportunity in providing insurance for southerners who apparently wouldn't buy insurance from northern agents. Successful, he became the agent for the Maryland Life & Land Insurance Company. When the Spanish-American War began in 1898 he enlisted in the local militia unit and was soon a 1LT in K Company 2nd Virginia Regiment. After the war he was made CPT and commander of K Company. He began a general agency in West Virginia in 1900. He was also soon promoted to MAJ in the 2nd Regiment and then LTC by 1903 when he married Maude St. Clair Conrad of Richmond, Virginia. The couple would soon have 3 children, a son in 1904, a daughter in 1905 and another daughter in 1907. William continued to build his business, changing office locations as the business expanded. He was also active in local civic and business interests including real estate.

He participated in the Army maneuvers near Chicamauga, Tennessee in 1908. COL Perry deployed with his regiment to Brownsville, Texas in 1914 and was discharged when the unit returned in 1916. He returned to duty in 1917 when the unit was mobilized for the First World War and commanded the newly formed 116th Infantry Regiment at Camp McClellan, Alabama for a short time. William and Maude welcomed a 2nd son in 1916. William retired as BG Perry in 1920 and the next few years were devoted to his civilian life. However there were several tragedies. Son, James Martin Perry, died age 11 of pneumonia on 26 Oct 1926. Then daughter, Mary Frances Perry, died of pulmonary tuberculosis at age 20 on 24 Jun 1928. This must have had a toll on Maude and she died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 56 on 31 Jul 1931. 

BG Perry never remarried but lived in his home at 16 Washington Street in Staunton, Virginia until his death at age 77 on 20 Apr 1943. He was buried next to his wife in Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton. 

Note: this memorial was published on the 50th anniversary of his passing.

BG Hierome Lindsay Opie Sr.

BG Hierome Lindsay Opie Sr. was born 6 Oct 1880 in Augusta County, Virginia. He was the 2nd of the 7 children of John Newton and Ida Walton (Fletcher) Opie Jr.  Ida was John's 2nd wife, he had previously been married to Isabella (Harmon) Opie who had died in 1877 and Hierome had 4 older half-siblings. 

Hierome would spend nearly all his life in Staunton. He first enlisted in the Staunton Rifles a company of the 70th Regiment of the Virginia Volunteer Infantry in 1899 as a PVT. As such he participated in the unit's service in civil action in the Richmond street car strike of 1903. He founded the Evening Leader newspaper in 1904. Hierome was first commissioned as a 2LT on 13 Jun 1905 and promoted to CPT on 4 Jun 1906. 

Hierome married Mary Eleanor Ranson on 28 Sep 1910. Her father was a prominent local lawyer. The couple would have 4 children of whom the 3rd would die in infancy.

He commanded the Staunton unit then known as I Company 1st Virginia Infantry and in 1916 took the company to service on the Mexican border. Mobilizing with the unit for the war in France, he at first commanded the newly formed A Company 116th Infantry Regiment He was promoted to MAJ on 5 Mar 1918 and assumed command of the 3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment. He departed with that unit for France aboard the USS Finland in June 1918. While in France he was wounded on 15 Oct 1918 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for refusing to be evacuated but continuing to lead his battalion taking the unit objective and consolidating its position. He spent several months recovering from his wounds before he was assigned the command of 1st Battalion 113th Infantry Regiment and returned with that unit aboard the USS Floridian in May 1919.

After returning from France in May 1919, Hierome purchased the Staunton Daily News in that same year and combined the 2 newspapers into the Staunton News-Leader which is still published today. He was active in  establishing the American Legion in Staunton and in supporting the needs of returning soldiers. When the regiment was re-organized as a National Guard unit in 1921, then LTC Opie was convinced to take command of the 116th to be headquartered in Staunton. He worked to make it one of the finest regiments in the National Guard. Despite having a health scare in 1926, he recovered enough to continue in command of the 116th until 1933. COL Opie led the unit in aiding civil authorities in the Danville Mill Strike in 1931 until the unit was relieved. He was also a founder of the Staunton Chamber of Commerce of which he was president for 12 years. Hierome was on the original committee that started the Shenandoah National Park movement. He was a vestryman in the Trinity Episcopal Church. He wrote articles about conservation and wildlife. 

Additionally he was a member of the National Press Club, Sons of the American Revolution, Commonwealth Club of Richmond, the Army and Navy Legion of Honor, the New York Southern Society, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Academy of Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Also, he was a member of Staunton Masonic Lodge No. 13, Staunton-Augusta post Veterans of Foreign Wars, Clemmer-McGuffin post of the American Legion, the Woodrow Wilson post of the 29th Division Association (now Post 116), a charter member of the Staunton Rotary Club, and on the board of directors of the Staunton Industrial Loan Corporation. 

A marksman, he not only promoted marksmanship in his military units, he participated and was on the Virginia team at the national matches at Seagirt, New Jersey in 1906 and at Camp Perry in 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1913. 

Hierome was ill and did not leave home for 22 days before he died on 26 Feb 1943. He was buried in Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia in a ceremony attended by U.S. Senator Harry Flood Byrd and Virginia Governor Colgate Darden. 

He was the brother of MG Evarts Walton Opie. His oldest son LTC (USMC Ret) Hierome Lindsay Opie Jr. served with the USMC 1st Division in the south Pacific in WW2 . His youngest son CPT Thomas Ranson Opie, was killed with 15 others when he B29 Superfortress crashed in a training flight near Clovis, New Mexico. 

Note: This memorial was published on the 50th anniversary of his death.