PFC William J. Anderson
We honor and remember PFC William Joseph Anderson of Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 401st GIR, 101st Airborne Division.
Private First Class (PFC) William Joseph Anderson of Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR), 101st Airborne Division, was born in Missouri Valley, Harrison County, Iowa, to Carl L. and Margueriette (Corbett) Anderson on June 3, 1921. William was their only child.
Somewhere in the 1930s, the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a teenager, William attended Milwaukee’s Boys Tech High School and Lincoln High School.
William registered for the draft in Milwaukee on February 14, 1942. At the time, he was employed by Sorgel Electric Company, a prominent Milwaukee-based transformer manufacturer. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in his hometown on November 21, 1942.
In the first records found at NARA, William is stationed as a Technician 5th Grade at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, with the HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 62nd Armored Infantry Regiment, on September 3, 1943. During that period, he was also briefly assigned to the 84th Medical Battalion Armored, after which he was transferred to the HQ Company of the 68th Armored Infantry Battalion at Camp Chaffee on October 5, 1943.
On August 23, 1944, PFC William Anderson was assigned to the Parachute School at Fort Benning, Georgia. After finishing his airborne training and crossing the Atlantic Ocean, he ended up at the 11th Replacement Depot in Givet, Belgium, on December 16, 1944.
According to a morning report dated January 15, 1945, he was assigned on December 30, 1944, to Baker Company of the 401st GIR, which was fighting the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. According to that same morning report of January 15, and his individual personal file, PFC Anderson was killed in action by a gunshot wound to the chest on January 11, 1945, not even two weeks after he joined Baker Company.
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
His death was in the face of the magnitude of WWII an insignificant moment, but a personal tragedy for PFC Anderson’s parents and his fiancée, Theresa Mass, who lost their only son and future husband when he had just arrived at the war’s frontline.
PFC William Anderson died at 23 years of age in Belgium. He was first buried at the temporary military facility of Grand Failly, France, at Section F, Row 8, Grave 179. He was disinterred on August 24, 1948, and reburied at the Luxembourg American Cemetery of Hamm, Luxembourg, where he rests eternally at Plot E, Row 8, Grave 70.
PFC Anderson was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart Medal.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, William.
Lest we forget! 🇺🇸
Sources:
NARA
IDPF
Milwaukee Journal, February 2, 1945 (page 14)
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God Speed Joseph,thank you for your service 🫡🇺🇸🫡