Today is November 11th, 2007. Veterans Day. A day set aside for Americans to honor the men and women who have served and are serving their country in the armed forces. An appropriate day to begin this humble attempt to honor one soldier's ultimate sacrifice.
Private First Class Levester Goodman died on September 16th, 1944, somewhere in Normandy, France. We know that from his headstone, which my wife and I came across during our August visit to the Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial. Private Goodman's headstone is one of the first that visitors see. Captivated by the "North Carolina" inscription on his cross, I snapped the picture you see here, hoping to learn more about him once I got back home to the Tarheel state.
When I finally began searching for information on Private Goodman, very few tidbits came easily. The only real information I found was an abstract of his enlistment record at ancestry.com. His enlistment states that he was born in Robeson County, North Carolina, in 1920. He signed up on April 30th, 1942 at Fort Bragg, not far from where he was born. He had a grammar school education and worked as a geographer in civil life. He was listed as being single, with dependents. He was a big man for his day: 6'1" and 174 pounds. Most surprising to me, he was black.
Why is the fact that he was black so surprising? Simply because he was a man who did not enjoy many of the rights he was signing up to defend. He could not even drink from the same water fountain as a white man, yet there he was, enlisting for his country in a time of grave need. He wasn't drafted. It seems he was signing up of his own free will. A remarkable act of selflessness.
So I hope you join me in honoring Private Goodman here. As I uncover more about him, I will post it on this blog and share it. If you have information that can help, I invite you to leave a comment.
Private Goodman's headstone
American Normandy Cemetery Colleville-sur-Mer, France
3 comments:
I think it is lovely that you are honoring this young man who died so far from home.
Can you find his unit number? There may be some old soldiers left who knew him .
And It's very low tech but you could post a message (hand bill type) in the post office and stores in the Roberson county area and see if some Goodman's will contact you. There are many extened familes in the area.
My own grandfather died in 1928 when my Father was but 4 years olds. I often wonder what the red headed Charlie I never knew would think of his grown up red headed grandchildren....Likewise I wonder what Private Goodman would think of you trying to bring a bit of him home to North Carolina. (Good things I'm sure)
Hello
My name is Mark Goodman.
I am of no relation of Levester Goodman, except when I visited Omaha
he guided me to him like he wanted to
tell me something, how can you stroll
this cemetery and the first grave you walk on and read has your last name ?
Well, now my curiosity has peaked and I would be honored to learn more about this young man.
Regards
M Goodman
Your blog information was very interesting, and thank you for sharing. It’s been 10+ years since your last post.. but hoping you still read comments here and there and that I may be of some help.
I visited Normandy with my children back in February and photographed his grave marker. I too am from NC. When I returned home I learned he was a soldier on Fort Bragg, NC.. where I now work as a nurse for the Dept of Defense (Army). If there is anything I can help locate locally to find information, please feel free to contact me. If you’d like the photo as well for your blog, I’d be happy to share that as well.
Truly,
Heather
CBnurse17@yahoo.com
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