Layton Wilburn Pippin
517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 13th Airborne Division, Headquarters Company
Layton Pippin was a graduate of Central High School, class of 1943. He was drafted into the Army in June of that same year. He served with the 517th Regimental Parachute Combat Team, 17th Div. as an Infantry Scout.
He married Mary Frances Eidson April 17, 1944 at Rossville, GA.
Pvt Pippin was shipped overseas April 1944 to Naples, Italy and invaded southern France on August 15, 1944 as a part of Operation Dragoon. He was killed in Bergeval, Belgium January 5, 1945 by an artillery round.
Layton Pippin was buried at Henri-Chapelle Cemetery, Belgium. In Oct, 1947 his body was exhumed and reinterred at Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN with full Military Honors.
Pvt. Layton W. Pippin had been awarded the Bronze Star for heroism in Italy when he entered a plane buring in a take-off crash and freed three seriously injured airmen, removing them to safety. He also removed 50 pounds of explosive material from the plane.
My great uncle Mertz Lampella was in the 517th and KIA during the Battle of the Bulge on 13 Jan 45. We have a sponsor in Belgium that looks after his grave and has pretty much become part of the family. It would be great to sponsor Layton Pippin and make sure the men of the 517th aren’t forgotten.
–Harmon Lampella
- Rank: Private
- Date of birth: 23 February 1924
- Date of death: 5 January 1945
- County: Hamilton
- Hometown: Chattanooga
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 13th Airborne Division
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Battles: Operation Dragoon invasion of Southern France, Battle of The Bulge, Belgium
- Awards: Soldiers Medal, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XII, Top Panel
- Sponsored by: Harmon Lampella
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