WW2 Fallen - Willet Wright, 42nd Infantry Division + Star Trek actor

Staff Sergeant Willet Wright served in the 42nd Infantry Division in France.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38644099/willet-henry-wright
http://www.mywarhistory.com/browse/printPreview.aspx?serviceHeroId=2 

Willet Henry Wright, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

Announcement: Later this month we will be starting a project that will result in the stories of all 400,000 plus of the World War 2 fallen at one online location. There will be an accompanying smart phone app to allow users visiting any war memorial to scan the fallen serviceman's name and be linked to his story. Watch this blog or join the WW2 Fallen 100 Facebook page to learn of upcoming details.

Willet was born on January 20, 1920 in Nebraska. His parents Willet and Lottie were also both born in Nebraska. His father worked as a farm laborer in Nebraska, but he moved to Denver with his family where he became a hospital cook. He moved to Washington by 1935 where he was a farmer. Willet had one older sister and two younger brothers. By 1940 Willet was still living at home. He had completed one year of high school and worked as an orchard helper. Willet married Alice Marie Pulver in August 1940. They had two daughters.

He was drafted into the army on May 16, 1944. He was assigned to the 242nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. The 42nd ID arrived in Marseilles in December 1945. It first saw combat that Christmas Eve near Strasbourg.

On March 15, 1945 the 42nd Infantry Division launched an attack in the Hardt Forest to break through the Siegfried Line that would last seven days. Sgt. Wright died on the first day of the advance.

His grave is at Cashmere Cemetery in Cashmere, Washington. I don't know what happened to  his widow or children.

Thank you Staff Sergeant Wright for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Willet.

DEFOREST KELLY
The future Dr. McCoy, from the original Star Trek TV series, was born on the same date as Willet Wright. Jackson DeForest Kelly was born in Georgia. He served in the army during World War 2, staying stateside in the army's First Motion Picture Unit.

http://veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=1333

After the war, Kelly decided to stay in California and pursue an acting career. His early roles were often in westerns playing villains. He was cast to play Dr. Leonard McCoy in Star Trek in 1966 and reprised the roll in a number of movies. He died in 1999. Newsweek's obituary started out saying, "We're not even going to try to resist: He's dead, Jim."

Last year on this date I profiled B-17 tail gunner Robert Cross and his paratrooper brother Thomas. You can read about Robert and Thomas here.

On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org