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Ennis Ray Hite was born on April 3rd, 1920, in Bedford County, Virginia. He completed one year of high school, and was single. He was 6'1” tall, weighed 205 pounds, and had brown eyes, brown hair, and a light complexion. He had originally enlisted in the National Guard on October 23rd, 1939, and reenlisted on February 3rd, 1941, in Bedford. His National Guard unit was Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division.
Ennis was one of many guardsmen transferred to other units in 1942, and ended up in Company G, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. He participated in Operation Torch, the Tunisian campaign, and the Battle of Sicily. In August 1943, while fighting in Sicily, he was hit with shrapnel in the scalp and forehead, and also lost his left middle finger. He returned to duty in February 1944, and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge in August. It is unclear whether he was back with his old regiment to participate in the invasion of France in June 1944, or if he was transferred out of the infantry by then. He was hospitalized again for complications due to his wounds, including nerve paralysis, in September 1944, and was finally discharged on disability on November 22nd, 1944, as a staff sergeant. He had been awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medals.
After the war, Ennis worked as a mixer at the Clover Creamery Company in Roanoke, Virginia. He had a daughter and got married in 1947. He was killed in a car accident on August 28th, 1948, in Nebraska, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Bedford, Virginia.
Photo: A wounded soldier of the 1st Infantry Division receives first aid, Sicily, 1943 (Robert Capa)
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