Sergeant LEONARD SHELBY WILLIAMS 38329745  KIA,

Sergeant LEONARD SHELBY WILLIAMS 38329745  KIA, U. S. Army. He lost his life in action against the enemy at Rittershoffen, France (ETO), January 17, 1945, at the age of 26. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Williams of Forest Hill, and was born April 13, 1918. He attended Forest Hill High School and Louisiana State Normal College, and entered the Army October 21, 1942, at the age of 24. He was a squad leader and machine gunner at Camp Adair, Oregon; Fort Lewis, Washington; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky. In April, 1944, he went to Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, Army Ground Forces Replacement Depot No. l, and on June 15 embarked for England. He entered France July 19, 1944, on Normandy Beachhead as an automatic rifleman with Company I, 315th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division, and fought in Normandy, Northern France, and the Ardennes prior to his death in mid-January from an enemy shell burst near the Siegfried Line. The Purple Heart Medal (PHM) was presented posthumously and received by his mother. 

 

Source:

1- THE FIGHTING MEN OF LOUISIANA – LOUISIANA HISTORICAL INSTITUTE – 1946

2- https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=5&cat=all&tf=F&q=LEONARD+S+WILLIAMS&bc=sd&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=7315962&rlst=186138,4596069,4171087,7315962,7921835