Jimmie W. Monteith, Jr., was born in Lowmoor, Virginia, in 1919 and raised in Richmond. Monteith attended Virginia Tech from 1937 through 1939 as a student in mechanical engineering. On 4 October 1941, Monteith entered the army and, after basic training, attended one of the first officer training programs at Fort Benning. Assigned to the First Infantry Division and after serving in North Africa and the Sicily campaign, Jimmie Monteith and the 16th Infantry Regiment hit Omaha Beach on D-day at Normandy, France. In charge of 51 men, Monteith guided his troops through the barbed wire and mines that littered the beach under heavy fire from the Germans. After getting his men into position, Monteith went back down the beach and lead two tanks through the mine field and directed them to take out two German machine gun nests. After continuing the assault, Monteith was caught in the crossfire and killed. Less than a year later, his mother accepted the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery. A reserve training center in Richmond and an amphitheater in Alabama were both named in his honor. Virginia Tech named a dormitory building after him.