
Lester Hashey (23 February 1925-11 December 2002) was a US Army private who served in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during World War II.
Biography[]
Lester Hashey was born in Bangor, Maine in 1925. He worked at the South Portland shipyards before joining the US Army on his 18th birthday, training as a paratrooper before being assigned to Easy Company as a replacement. Hashey first fought at the Battle of Son during Operation Market Garden, and he later fougt at the Battle of the Bulge. On 14 January 1945, his lung was pierced by shrapnel, ending his battlefield service. He became a military policeman in Belgium before returning to the United States, only to re-enlist in the Army due to developing a crush on a Red Cross nurse in Le Havre. He became a driver in France, Holland, and Belgium, and he later became a guard at Spandau Prison. After the war, he traveled the world and served in Korea and Japan before retiring in 1963 to focus on raising his family. He returned to Portland, Maine in 1972, and he started a CPR program. He retired in 1991 and died in 2002.