Private First Class Walter N. Wills

World War II US Army Army Hospital - Belgium Service Number: 39213178 Born: May 9, 1925, Boulder Inducted: August 12, 1943 - Seattle, Washington Killed in action January 8, 1945 in Belgium Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Elba O. Wills of Washington State formerly Wray.

Arlington National Cemetery

Yuma Pioneer Feb 1, 1945

Wills, Walter - From the Wray Rattler

   Walter Wills, only son of Mr. and Mrs. Elba Wills now of Seattle Washington, but former Yuma county residents, was killed on January 8th in Belgium we learned this week. Walter was injured on D-Day and was hospitalized for a number of weeks but had recovered and returned to the front where he made the supreme sacrifice.

Port Townsend Leader, Port Townsend, Jefferson County, WA, 25 January 1945.

PFC. WALTER WILLS DIES IN BELGIUM

   Pfc. Walter Wills, only son of Mr. and Mrs. E. O. Wills of Lake Leland, was killed in action on January 8, his parents were informed by wire from the war department recently. Pfc. Wills was a member of an infantry division and had returned to duty after being wounded during the invasion of France on July 11.

   Walter Wills was born in Boulder, Colorado, May 9, 1925. He later moved to Eugene, Oregon with his parents where he lived until 1937, when his family came to Lake Leland. He attended school in Quilcene and prior to his enlistment in the army was employed by the Austin Company at Indian Island.

   He entered the army in February of 1942, and was sent to Camp Van Dorn, Miss. for his basic training and went overseas during the latter part of March 1944.

   Going into France with an infantry division on D-Day, he was first wounded on July 11, but recovered and was sent to a replacement pool in France on September 12, where he was stationed for several months. He was sent back to the front lines in Germany for a brief period and was then returned to the hospital. In his last letter addressed to his parents he told them that he had been assigned as a guard in a prisoner of war camp. Pfc. Wills was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

   In addition to his parents he is survived by two aunts, Mrs. Minnie Stratton and Mrs. Eino Kroskie of Seattle; an Uncle, Robert Cumley, also of Seattle and two cousins, Mrs. Irvin Mosier of Quilcene and Mrs. Robert Emmet of Hadlock.

Port Townsend Leader April 21, 1949

FUNERAL SERVICE FOR WALTER WILLS

   Funeral services for Pfc. Walter N. Wills will be held at the Arlington Cemetery at Fort Meyer Virginia, on Thursday April 21, at 2 P.M. Walter gave his life for his country on January 8, 1945 in Belgium at the age of nineteen.

   He first served in the infantry and was wounded in France on July 11, 1944. He was then transferred to the medics and was working at the hospital in Belgium when it was bombed. He came here with his parents Mr. and Mrs. E. O. Wills from Oregon and attended the local school until called into the service.

Notes:

Pvt Walter N. Wills, 39213178, is credited to Jefferson County, Washington on the 1946 US Army Honor List of the Dead and Missing.

Walter Wills photograph donated by Debra Branigan.

Arlington National Cemetery headstone photograph donated by Tracy Wahl.

Go to previous page | next page.

Return to Gold Star Veterans Listing