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| Staff Sergeant William Johns was a tank commander in the 753rd Tank Battalion in Sicily and Italy. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8961816/william-johns https://www.flickr.com/photos/kruegerrossi/15953990585 |
William Johns never had a chance to reach 100 years old. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Last year I was not able to write a profile everyday from September to November because I was studying for the Certified Financial Planner test (I passed!). I feel my project to honor one U.S. serviceman for each day of the war would be incomplete if I left them off. As I have time, I am going back and adding profiles for the days I missed.
William was born on October 21, 1918 in Texas. His parents Alex and Amelia were born in Syria and Louisiana, respectively. His father worked as a dry goods peddler and later as a shoe repairman. His mother died in 1922 after a bout of pneumonia. William had an older brother and sister, a younger half-sister and five younger half-brothers. All seven of the Johns brothers served in WW2. By 1940 William had completed one year of high school and worked as a sales clerk at the Balagia Produce Company. At some point he married his wife Tillie.
He was drafted into the army in March 1941. He became a staff sergeant in Company A, 753rd Tank Battalion which was attached to the 45th Infantry Division beginning with the Sicily Campaign.
While fighting in Sicily, Sgt. Johns led the capture of 18 German soldiers and was awarded the Silver Star medal. Earlier that day he was hit by shrapnel in his helmet which fortunately did not go through all the way. While escorting the prisoners back, his tank's motor quit. Three other tanks continued on with the prisoners while he and his men made it back on foot. He wrote home that a better award would be to return home to see his wife and son, not yet born.
Operating near Venafro Italy on December 11, 1943, Sgt. Johns tank became disabled in enemy territory, so he led the members of his crew to set up a machine-gun on a nearby high ground. They were attacked by German planes. He directed the fire of the gun until he was wounded. His tank crew held out until reinforcements were able to arrive. He died as a result of his wounds. Unknown to him, his baby boy was born four days before Sgt. Johns died.
His Silver Star medal was presented in a ceremony to his widow and five month old son in May 1944. I was not able to locate a copy of the citation.
His grave is at Grace Hill Cemetery in Longview, Texas. I don't know what happened to his widow. His namesake son may very well still be alive.
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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