Harry Carlton Hedgepeth

Private First Class Harry Carlton Hedgepeth was killed in action on February 2, 1944 in the battle for Monte Cassino in Italy during World War II.  He was 19 years old.

Harry Carlton Hedgepeth was born on March 21, 1924 in Vance County, North Carolina, the son of John Lewis Hedgepeth and Lillian Hunt Hedgepeth. He graduated from Henderson High School in the Class of 1942.

PFC Hedgepeth and his high school classmate Billy Knight enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 25, 1943.  They were assigned to the 133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division.  By the time they reached the Regiment, it was engaged in the January 1944 assault on  the heavily fortified German lines at Cassino in Southern Italy. 

Following initial assaults on Cassino by the British X Corps on January 17, 1944  and the U.S. 36th Division on January 20, the U.S. 34th Infantry Division spearheaded an attack on January 24, 1944 across the flooded Rapido valley north of Cassino and into the mountains behind with the intention of then wheeling to the left and attacking Monte Cassino from high ground. While the task of crossing the river would be easier in that the Rapido upstream of Cassino was fordable,  flooding made movement on the approaches each side very difficult. In particular, tanks could only move on paths laid with steel matting and it took eight days of bloody fighting across the waterlogged ground for 34th Division to push back General Franek's German 44th Infantry Division to establish a foothold in the mountains. Three of the Division’s battalions suffered 50% casualties in the fighting.  PFC Hedgepeth was killed in action on February 2, 1944.  PFC Knight was killed in the fighting for Cassino thirteen days later.

PFC Harry Hedgepeth is buried in the cemetery at Union Chapel United Methodist Church in Kittrell, N.C. 

Last edited: 30 May 2026