SGT Kenneth Raymond Thompson

SGT Kenneth Raymond Thompson was born 26 Sep 1914 in Athens, Tennessee. He was the youngest of the 8 children born to Jesse Alverine and Sophrona Marie (Billings) Thompson. He may have been born as Raymond  His mother died of a pulmonary embolism just 3 months after his birth. She was only 38-years old at the time. It no doubt fell to his 17 and 16-year old sisters to care for him as the family was still together in 1920. His father farmed along the Cedar Springs Road in McMinn County, Tennessee and then he died in 1922 of prostate cancer at the age of 57. We don't know where 7-year old Kenneth and his 8-year old sister Cecile went. They aren't living with any known family members in 1930 but they may have been together. Cecile married in 1936 and Kenneth may have moved to Los Angeles, California at that time. Kenneth gave his address as 327 South Main Street in Los Angeles when he registered for the draft in October 1940. 

Kenneth was drafted in February 1942, in-processing at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California. After his initial training he was sent to England and assigned to A Company 116th Infantry. PVT Thompson trained for and participated in the D-Day amphibious assault at Omaha Beach and survived it. He was promoted to SGT on 20 Jun 1944 as the whole regiment and particularly A Company took in a number of replacements for D-Day casualties and reorganized for the continuing fight in the bocage region of France. He was shot in the chest and died on 25 Jun 1944. 

SGT Thompson was repatriated and re-interred in the Cedar Springs Cemetery in McMinn County, Tennessee where he rests forever with other family members.