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Personal info

Full name
PIERCE, William K
Date of birth
25 April 1921
Age
23
Place of birth
Colesville, Broome County, New York
Hometown
Falls County, Texas

Military service

Service number
15090277
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
F Company,
2nd Battalion,
504th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
82nd Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
6 October 1944
Place of death
The field, south of the mill
Thornsche Molen, Persingen, the Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
D 7 45

Immediate family

Members
Charles R. Pierce (father)
Olive M. (Sheppard) Pierce (mother)
Raymond F. Pierce (brother)
Harriet A. Pierce (sister)
Marion C. Pierce (sister)
David A. Pierce (brother)

More information

Pfc William K. Pierce attended Chilton High School and was a typesetter.

He volunteered for the Army of the United States at Fort Thomas Newport, Kentucky on 12 February 1942. He served in Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and the Netherlands.

According to 504th historian and writer, Tyler Fox, his platoon was forced to fall back and he was declared missing. 2nd Lt Heneisen and Pfc William K. Pierce's bodies were put into a shallow grave field near where they were killed by the Germans. Their remains were found by two farmers in 1947 and initially interred alongside each other at Ardennes Cemetery.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.ww2-airborne.us, http://aad.archives.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - Family Trees, www.bevrijdingsmuseum.nl, pg. 308-310 A Fine Sense of Honor: at war with the men of the 504th Parachute Infantry from Sicily to the fall of Germany by Tyler Fox

Photo source: Tjarco Schuurman