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Personal info

Full name
MOLONY, William Joseph "Bill"
Date of birth
28 December 1915
Age
29
Place of birth
Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
Hometown
Macon, Bibb County, Georgia
Religion
Protestant

Military service

Service number
32167882
Rank
Private
Function
unknown
Unit
51st Armored Infantry Battalion,
4th Armored Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
9 March 1945
Place of death
In the vicinity of Treis-Karden, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
C 2 14

Immediate family

Members
William W. Molony (father)
May (Reily) Molony (mother)
Lurline C. (deLois Castleberry) Molony (wife)
William J. Molony Jr. (son)

More information

Pvt William J. Molony enlisted in Trenton, New Jersey on 14 August 1941.

When WWII broke out, he was a Drill Sergeant at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. Every 6 weeks he trained a new group that was headed for the front lines. It was there that he met his wife Lurline. They married on 15 June 1943.

He was wounded in action by shrapnel in his leg and lay and had to recover in a hospital for several weeks.

Exactly two weeks after his death, his son William Joseph Molony Jr. was born.

When his personal effects were returned, his wife found that he had received the post card announcing the birth of a son. Unfortunately the word 'son' was covered by a post office stamp. Pvt Molony never knew whether he had become father of a son or a daughter.

He is remembered at the Shiloh United Methodist Church Cemetery in Reidsville, Georgia.

Source of information: André Koch, Bill Molony (son), www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - 1930/1940 Census / Headstone and Interment Record, AAR 51st AIB August 44 thru May 1945

Photo source:
www.findagrave.com - soilsister, Bill Molony, Robert Strickland