Private John Lee was the son of Joseph Lee of Brooklyn, New York.

From 21-23 Mar 1943 the 18th IR and the 1st ID were engaged southeast of El Guettar, Tunisia. The NARA WWII casualty listings by state and county for New York show Lee, John, Pvt from Kings County as killed in action 23 Mar 1943 so we can assume he was killed southeast of El Guettar.

From history.army.mil: While the tankers rushed eastward' the infantrymen found themselves in a major battle forty miles back to the west at El Guettar. As Allied planners hoped, Kesselring had released the 10th Panzer Division for a counterattack on II Corps. While the German attack pleased strategists waiting for an enemy diversion from the south, the troops of Maj. Gen. Terry Allen's 1st Infantry Division who had to face it saw nothing to celebrate. Over three days from 21 March Allen's men turned back two strong attacks. In fighting that often came down to the "him-or-me" terror of hand-to-hand combat, 1st Division troops pushed the Germans out of their fighting positions and off hilltops. Fortunately, Allen's men could call on strong air and artillery support. Massed artillery and tank destroyers knocked out nearly thirty enemy tanks while mines stopped eight more. American casualties were heavy, but the 10th Panzer Division had to withdraw.

Source: American Battle Monuments Commission Facebook page contributor Brian Jodi Kueker

Thank you for your supreme sacrifice in service to your country.

_This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see _www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.