Lee Roy Detweiler
85th INF DIV WW2
339th Regiment
Lee Roy Detweiler served in the Army as a SSGT from 1942-1945. He earned the Meritorious Service Medal, the Purple Heart, and two Battle Stars. He served in the 85 Infantry Division, 339th Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company A (Custer Division) which was an all draftee division. He trained in desert and mountain warfare along with amphibious landings for 22 months before deployment to Italy. The 85th pushed the Germans from southern Italy through Rome into the PoVally in northern Italy, when the war ended. He was involved in three major battles; Rome-Arno, North Apennines, and Po Valley. Roy was wounded September 17th 1944 on the last day of the attack across the North Apennines Mountains. The 339th had broken through the Gothic Line and secured Mt Verruca by 1700 hours on September 17th. Roy was wounded by German machine gun fire while crawling up the hillside to take out a machine gun nest that had his squad pinned down.
Roy was recouping aboard a medical ship off the coast of Italy while the 85th fought their third and final major battle (Po Valley). Lee Roy never married but proceeded to work with his brothers in “Detweiler Brothers Painting” and raised field trial foxhounds as a life long hobby. Roy once lived in a tiny cabin at the current location of the Coralville Firefighters Memorial. Roy was born in 1917 and died suddenly in 1982 at the age of 64. He is buried at Oakhill Cemetery in Coralville, IA.
Detailed information about the 85th Division can be found in the book, “The 85th Infantry Division In World War 2.”
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