PVT Lester Downing Laing

courtesy of Dominique Potier

PVT Lester Downing Laing was born 16 Nov 1916 in Warren County, Virginia to Zachariah and Jacqueline (Vermillion) Laing.  The family farmed. Lester was operating a pool room in Faquier County by 1940 and reported a 1939 income of $450. 

Lester was working as motor vehicle repairman when he was drafted in February 1943. He was sent to  England after basic training and assigned to A Company 116th Infantry before the D-Day landings at Omaha beach.  PVT Laing was killed in action on 6 Jun 1944 in that landing, one of many A Company soldiers who lost their lives on that day, in that place.

PVT Laing is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery.