PFC James Merritt Padley

PFC James Merritt Padley was born 24 Sep 1923 in Wilmington, Delaware. He was the only child of James Vandergrift and Gertrude Emma (Baker) Padley. His father was a farmer. In 1940 the family lived rent free on the farm on which his father worked as a supervisor earning a reported 1939 income of $1140. Young James attended Claymont High School and graduated in 1943.

James entered the service immediately after his high school graduation in February 1943. He was then sent overseas in June of that same year and assigned to A Company 116th Infantry. He trained with that unit for the amphibious assault that was a planned part of the invasion and liberation of occupied Europe. PFC Padley was killed in action on 6 Jun 1944 while participating in that assault on the French beach code-named Omaha at the village of Vierville-sur-Mer. He was aboard LCA 911 when it sank and reportedly drowned. Originally reported missing in action his body was recovered and initially buried at the Blosville Cemetery.

PFC Padley was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred at Saint Georges Cemetery in Saint Georges, Delaware with many other family members.

His father died in 1953 and his mother died in 1998.