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LeRoy Herbert Erickson Jr.

Washington High School, St. Paul, Minnesota

106th Infantry Division, 422nd Infantry Regiment

Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Good Conduct, American Campaign, EAME Campaign with bronze star, WW2 Victory, Prisoner of War

LeRoy H. Erickson H.S. graduation photo 1940

Narrative

Sergeant LeRoy Herbert Erickson Jr. was born in St. Paul Minnesota on 25 September 1922. He graduated from Washington High School in St. Paul in 1940. He was employed by the West Publishing Co. when he was called into service 13 March 1943. Leroy served in the U.S. Army with the 106th (Golden Lion) Infantry Division, 422nd Infantry Regiment, and went overseas to Europe in October 1944.

At the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge on 16 December 1944, LeRoy was reported missing, but later it was learned that he was wounded and taken prisoner. While Leroy was being moved in a railway boxcar to a German prisoner of war camp, the car was hit by a bomb from an American plane, and he suffered a fatal wound. The exact date of his death is not known, but it is believed to have been around New Years Day 1945. LeRoy was buried in Gerolstein Germany, but after the war he was brought home to be buried in Minnesota.