Thread by @seth_hettena

On this #MemorialDay, please join me in remembering my uncle, Seymour Levine, who was killed in action during #WorldWarII.

2nd Lt. Levine was a platoon commander in Company F of the 182nd Regiment of the Americal Division. In March 1945, the division was assigned to take Cebu, an island in the Philippines held by the Japanese. #MemorialDay

Some 14,500 Japanese soldiers were hunkered down in caves and fortified positions high in the hills of Cebu. (Photo of
182nd in action on Cebu from 182ndinfantry.org/cebu-hostile-b…)

The first 3 days of the invasion went smoothly, but by April the dug-in Japanese defenders were beginning to rain fire down on the 182nd from hidden hilltop emplacements and caves. #MemorialDay

Vastly outnumbered by the enemy by 13:1, the men of the 182nd began advancing up an imposing mountain ridge that soared as high as 2000 feet. #MemorialDay

On April 11, 1945, 2nd Lt. Levine was killed by a mortar blast. He was 20 years old. #MemorialDay

He was one of 878 men in the 182nd killed on Cebu from March 26-April 18, 1945. The 182nd received a unit commendation for its actions in that period. It’s pretty amazing reading. #MemorialDay

The fighting continued on Cebu for months. Japanese troops on the island did not know Japan had surrendered in August 1945 because the commanders did not have a working radio and refused to believe the Americans. #MemorialDay 182ndinfantry.org/wp-content/upl…

My name was chosen to honor my uncle, Seymour Levine. (Tradition in my family is to name a child with the first letter of a deceased relative.)

Thanks for reading.

#MemorialDay