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Personal info

Full name
DELLAPENTA, William J
Date of birth
22 April 1924
Age
20
Place of birth
Buffalo, Erie County, New York
Hometown
Buffalo, Erie County, New York

Military service

Service number
32730814
Rank
Private
Function
unknown
Unit
HQ & HQ Company,
3rd Battalion,
501st Parachute Infantry Regiment,
101st Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
6 November 1944
Place of death
Zetten, the Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
G 3 19

Immediate family

Members
Joseph F. Dellapenta (father)
Maria T. (Cordileone) Dellapenta (mother)
Beatrice Dellapenta (sister)
Louis Dellapenta (brother)
Virginia R. Dellapenta (sister)
Rita A. Dellapenta (sister)
Theresa M. Dellapenta (sister)

More information

Pvt William J. Dellapenta attended Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New York and was a student at Cornell with the class of 1945

He suffered a leg fracture two days before D-Day, was hospitalized for eight weeks and then went into action.

Together with Cpl Walter J. Radel, he was standing behind a window of a school building when it was shelled by German artillery fire. Both were killed. Sgt. Chester Wetsig, who was sitting in the window, survived.

He was initially buried at Molenhoek Cemetery near Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com, www.marketgarden.com, Cornell University Alumni files, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record

Photo source: Niek Schoonbrood, www.ancestry.com - Lafayette High School 204 Yearbook 1941