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| Pfc. William Wheatley served with the 133rd Infantry Regiment in Tunisia. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70649964/william-l.-wheatley http://www.34thinfantry.com/publications/redbulletin-vol1no13.html |
William L. Wheatley never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on April 22, 1918 in Tennessee. His parents S.H. and Edith were also both born in Tennessee. His father worked as a pencil mill foreman and later as an oil truck driver. Still later he took up farming. William had one older brother and two younger brothers. By 1940 William had completed four years of high school and was working at a laborer while still living with his parents. He married Mary Juline Turner in April 1941.
He was drafted into the army on June 27, 1942. He became a private first class in the 133rd Infantry Regiment (nicknamed "Ironman"), 34th Infantry Division (nicknamed "Red Bull"). The 34th ID saw combat in French Algeria and Tunisia.
Pfc. Wheatley was killed on April 8, 1943 during the first day of offensive action of the 34th ID. It was attacking across open desert to take Fondouk, Tunisia.
His grave is at Lone Oak Cemetery in Lewisville, Tennessee. The local VFW post was named in his honor. His widow never remarried and died in 2000.
Last year on this date I profiled Lester Purcell who served in the American Division on Guadalcanal. You can read about Lester 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.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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