CPL Thomas Wigington Petty was born 26 Jun 1918 in Chatham, Virginia. He was the 5th of the 8 children born to Robert Whitfield and Elizabeth (Owen) Petty. The family farmed on the farm they owned near Banister, Virginia.
Thomas was drafted in April 1941. Due to policies in effect at that point in the war, he was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland and assigned to M Company 116th Infantry. With that unit he trained at Fort Meade, in the Carolina Maneuvers and at Camp Blanding before being sent to England aboard the Queen Mary in September 1942. Once in England he trained with the unit for the planned amphibious assault as part of the invasion of occupied Europe. He would take part in the D-Day landings on 6 Jun 1944. PFC Petty was promoted to CPL on 21 Jun 1944. He continued to serve with M Company until killed in action near Saint-Lo, France on 12 Jul 1944.
CPL Petter was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in the Petty Family Cemetery in Chatham, Virginia.
3 of Thomas' 4 brothers served in the military during WW2.
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