Wiley Lamon Wright

Private Wiley Lamon Wright was killed in action November 17, 1944 in Belgium during World War II.  He was 20 years old.

Wiley Lamon Wright was born on June 17, 1924 in Vance County, North Carolina, the son of Guy Lamon Wright and Mary Lou Ayscue Wright.

Pvt Wright was inducted into the U.S. Army on September 15, 1940.  He was deployed to the European Theater of War in January 1944 serving with the 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

The 22nd Infantry Regiment assaulted Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, as part of VII Corps in the D-Day Invasion and arrived in the vicinity of Ravenoville, Normandy, by the end of D-day. It then participated in the Cherbourg Peninsula operation while attached to 2nd Armored Division from July 19 through August 2, 1944.

The regiment then returned to 4th Infantry Division and headed for Belgium as part of Operation Cobra, moved into Belgium on September 6, 1944, and attacked the German defensive Siegfried Line on September 14. Against this heretofore unpenetrated defensive work, against small arms, mortar, artillery, and anti-tank fires which had been coordinated through years of planning, and against stubborn SS troops, the Third Battalion advanced to the line—and cracked it. The First Battalion followed, pushed through the gap, and turned sharply to the north. The Second Battalion attacked as planned, and by 2100 hours was on its objective.

The Third Battalion immediately began moving toward Brandscheid, making slow, but steady progress. By 1315 on September 17, the Third Battalion had entered Brandscheid, and had taken some prisoners, but heavy counterattacks in the First Battalion sector, which required parts of the Third Battalion to be drawn to their assistance, demanded an adjustment of the line to a position just short of the town.

Shortly thereafter further attacks on Brandscheid were ordered discontinued. In an attempt to regain the fortifications of the prized Siegfried Line vigorous German counterattacks were attempted. There followed a period of patrolling, resupply, and mutual harassment, and on October 4 the combat team was ordered to move to a new position on the line in the vicinity of Bullingen. The 22nd Infantry had proved that the Siegfried Line was capable of being penetrated; equally certain was the terrific toll that the operation had exacted.

Through the remainder of October, and up through November 5, the regiment occupied a portion of the line leaning against the Siegfried fortifications in the vicinity of Krinkelt, Belgium, and remained relatively static. Combat and reconnaissance patrols operated during the day and night, and valuable information concerning the disposition and attitude of the Germans was accumulated. At intervals throughout the period orders were received and plans prepared and promulgated for a second breaching of the German defenses, but the attack never materialized. The weather increased in severity and the countryside was smothered under an oppressive overcast, reinforced by dismal rain and penetrating cold. Artillery and mortar harassment, delivered in quantity by the Germans, was frequent, and Combat Team 22 retaliated in kind. Enemy "buzz bombs frequently passed overhead. Patrolling, friendly and enemy, continued without respite.

On November 8, having been relieved in its defensive position, the 22nd Infantry moved to an assembly area near Zweifall, Germany, just west of the Hurtgen Forest, and there prepared its plan to attack through the dense woods toward Duren. Because of bad weather, and because heavy bombing and strafing attack was to preface the infantry assault, a period of five days was spent waiting for the rain to clear; but on November 16th the attack began. Immediately the Germans displayed the stubbornness which would mark their resistance in the Hurtgen, and from the beginning the attack moved slowly and deliberately, seldom averaging more than 500 yards a day. The forest itself was extremely thick, with bands of heavy trees every few yards, and, even in clear weather, the light under the mass of foliage was dim and uncertain. Enemy shells, mortar and artillery, falling into the tops of the trees almost invariably achieved the effect of airbursts. The Germans were reinforced almost daily. Casualties in the regiment mounted steadily, hour by hour and day by day; no one in the regimental area was safe from the enemy's determination to hold this ground at all costs. Battalion commanders and staffs changed daily, and it became necessary for battalions to check frequently to see that subordinate commanders were alive and healthy. The trek of wounded to the rear became a continuous stream, and the medical detachments were hard-pressed. Snow and rain were incessant; trench foot added to the casualty rate; blankets at night for the forward battalions were luxuries seldom enjoyed; shaving was impossible. German counterattacks increased in viciousness and constant infiltrations made communication extremely dubious and unreliable; radios and telephones were destroyed by mortar and shell fire in wholesale lots. The long, thin line of replacements filing to the front passed the long, thin line of the wounded limping to the rear.

The Germans fiercely defended the Hurtgen because it served as a staging area for the 1944 winter offensive Battle of the Bulge, and because the mountains commanded access to the Rur Dam at the head of the Rur Reservoir.  The Germans successfully held the region until they launched their last-ditch offensive into the Ardennes on December 16 and ended the Hürtgen offensive.  Pvt Wright was killed in action in the Battle for the Hurtgen Forest on November 17, 1944.

Private Wiley Lamon Wright is buried in the Liberty Christian Church Cemetery, Epsom, Vance County, North Carolina. 

Last edited: 8 June 2026