PFC Henry Richard Dority Jr.

PFC Henry Richard Dority Jr. was born in Orange County, North Carolina on 30 Aug 1920. He was the only child of  Henry Richard and Carrie (Reeves) Dority. Carrie was was his father's 2nd wife. His father was a farmer with a farm near Banister, Virginia. Carrie was not well, she died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1927. His father remarried later that year and had a daughter with Leslie Dean (Seamster) Dority. Henry senior had a stroke and died in 1939. Henry junior found work in a cotton mill but reported a 1939 income of only $144. 

It is likely the need for additional income that caused Henry to join the National Guard enlisting in F Company 116th Infantry in South Boston, Virginia. PVT Dority was serving with that unit when it was federalized in February 1941. He then trained with the regiment at Fort George Meade, Maryland, in the Carolina Maneuvers near Fort Bragg, North Carolina and at Camp Blanding, Florida before sailing with his unit to England in September 1942. The regiment underwent a period of intense training in England. We don't know why but PFC Dority died on 26 Dec 1943. 

PFC Dority rests forever in the Cambridge American Cemetery.