Personal

Leslie Dumont Dickerson, Jr., was born on 21 October 1921, in Flint, Genesee County, Michigan, to Leslie D. Dickerson and Elvira Vera Krabel Dickerson. He had a sister Jeanne and a brother Robert. Robert served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War Two. Their father died in 1934. Leslie was raised in Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Glassboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey, and Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware. Leslie graduated from Pierre S. DuPont High School in Wilmington, and later attended Glassboro State Normal School and Miami University in Ohio. In 1942 he married Mabel Anne Dunham in Wilmington, and they had one daughter Constance Lee Dickerson.

Military Service

Leslie enlisted in the U.S. Army on 19 November 1942, in Camden, New Jersey, with Serial #32481265. He trained with the Army’s armored forces at Camp Polk, Louisiana, and Fort Knox, Kentucky, and was later selected for aviation training at Montana State University. When that training program was cancelled, Leslie volunteered to be paratrooper and attended jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Leslie was eventually assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR). The 401st had two battalions. Leslie’s 1st Battalion was later assigned as the 3rd Battalion, 327th GIR, 101st Airborne Division, and is recorded in military history under that designation. The Battalion participated in the D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June, arriving on Utah Beach with the 4th Infantry Division. It later linked up with the paratroopers who had jumped into Normandy earlier that day. Once the 3rd Battalion was re-united with the rest of the 101st Airborne, it helped capture Ste. Come-du-Mont, and later Carentan on 15 June, where the Battalion took heavy casualties. The Battalion also participated in Operation Market Garden in Holland, where it fought for 72 days.

Death

In December 1944 when the German Army launched its counteroffensive, which became the Battle of the Bulge, the 101st Airborne Division was sent to Bastogne, Belgium, to aid in its defense. Bastogne was the center of a critical road network needed by the German Army for its counteroffensive to succeed. The entire 327th GIR was sent into winter combat with lightweight clothing and little equipment. Nonetheless, the Regiment was assigned to secure nearly half of the defensive perimeter around Bastogne, where it beat back numerous attacks. It was through the lines of the 327th GIR that the Germans came to propose an American surrender to Acting 101st Airborne Commander, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, who replied “Nuts.” By the time the Regiment was relieved, it had taken 750 prisoners, and knocked out 144 German tanks and 105 other enemy vehicles. On 14 January 1945, during this famous battle, Private First Class Leslie D. Dickerson, Jr., was killed in action.

Burial and Honors

Private First Class Dickerson was originally buried at the temporary American Cemetery at Foy-Bastogne, but in 1949 his remains were repatriated and reburied at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Section 34, Grave 3713.

Dickerson was awarded the Purple Heart Medal for his sacrifice. In addition, in recognition of its heroic stand at Bastogne, General Dwight D. Eisenhower personally visited the 101st Airborne after the battle and presented the Division with the Distinguished Unit Citation.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? There is a smartphone app that allows people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the name and read his or her story.