SGT Leslie Edward Bragg

from 1940 "annual"

SGT Leslie Edward Bragg was born 7 Feb 1922 in Fluvanna County, Virginia. He was the 3rd of the 6 children born to Early Venable and Myrtle Lee (Melton) Bragg. His father worked as farm labor and in 1940 so did Leslie and his older brother Wallace. Together they reported a 1939 income of $850. This may be why Wallace and Leslie joined the local National Guard unit, K Company 116th Infantry.

Leslie was with the unit when it was federalized in February 1941. He then trained with the unit at Fort  George Meade, Maryland before participating in the Carolina Maneuvers and training at Camp Blanding, Florida. He then went to England with his unit aboard the Queen Mary where he trained with the unit in preparation for the amphibious landing that was part of the effort to liberate Nazi occupied France. He took part in the D-Day landing on 6 Jun 1944 and fought with the unit until wounded on 30 Jun 1944. Evacuated to hospital, SGT Bragg died of his wound(s) on 1 Jul 1944. 

SGT Bragg was repatriated in 1949 and re-interred in the Riverview Cemetery in Charlottesville, Virginia/

Great-grandfather William Daniel Payne was a PVT in Massie's Battery of Artillery (CSA) in the Civil War. 2 brothers served in WW2, Wallace Venable Bragg and Russell Berkley Bragg served in the U.S. Army during the war, Wallace being transferred out of the 116th Infantry and Russell being in B Company 9th Armored Engineer Battalion and present at the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.