SGT Manuel Eugene Weeks was born 30 Aug 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. He was the 2nd of 6 children of Louis Tyree and Gertrude Elizabeth (Harper) Weeks. His father was a crane operator for Virginia Bridge Company and the family rented a home at 213 Glade Street in Vinton, Virginia. They later moved to 220 Braddock Street in the same town. Manuel lf=eft high school after 3-years and went to work as a telegraph messenger earning $260 in 1939 while his father earned $1300 that year.
Money may have been one of the reasons that Manuel enlisted in the National Guard becoming a member of the Anti-Tank Company 116th Infantry. He was a PVT when federalized with his unit in February 1941. He then trained with his unit at Fort George Meade, Maryland, in the Carolina maneuvers near for Bragg, North Carolina and at Camp Blanding, Florida. He went with the unit to England in September 1942 and once there trained with them as they prepared for the amphibious assault on Nazi occupied France. SGT Weeks fought with his unit on D-Day and after until he was struck by fragments from artillery fire and killed in action on 15 Jun 1944.
SGT Weeks is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery.
Manuel was 2nd cousin to PVT Julian Joseph Weeks of G Company 116th Infantry.
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