William J. Ellis
Biography: William James Ellis was born on September 13, 1915, in Dawson, Pennsylvania. He was the son of William J, Ellis and Anna Belle Darby and graduated from Sewickley High School in 1933. While in school he was active in both baseball and basketball. After graduating, he worked for the Pittsburgh Forging Company.
On January 28, 1942, William married the former Harriet Ford Kemp in Allegheny. Harriet was born in Sewickley, PA, and was the daughter of John Alfred Ford and Mary Seckler.
Service Time: William entered military service on March 7, 1942, at New Cumberland, PA. After his basic training, he was briefly assigned to a unit but was soon chosen for OCS (Officer Candidate School). He studied with OCS Class number 16, at Camp Hood, Texas, and graduated on February 4, 1943, at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.
He was assigned to to 893rd Tank Destroyer Battalion and continued his training with them serving as 2nd platoon leader in Company A. The unit had moved to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, in early 1943, and participated in the Louisiana Maneuvers. They received orders in December to proceed to the New York port and prepare for shipment overseas. They departed on January 9, 1944, and arrived in Liverpool, England, on January 20th.
After months of additional training and preparations, they boarded transports and landed at the Omaha beachhead in Normandy, France, on July 1st, equipped with M10 tank destroyers. They were committed to battle in the vicinity of St. Jean de Daye, advancing to Paris by August 25th and then proceeding to the Siegfried Line in the Schnee Eifel along the Belgian-German border.
The unit held defensive positions in January, before moving in support of the 78th Infantry Division and helping capture the Roer River dams in February. The offense continued across the Roer toward the Rhine River, which they crossed in early March, moving northward to attack enemy forces at the Sieg River. Their last offensive actions were against the Ruhr River Pocket in April.
On April 6th, north of Katzwinkel, Germany, Lt. William J. Ellis was killed by anti-personnel fire from a German Mk IV tank. Both 2nd and 3rd platoons had just moved into Berghausen and overran an enemy POW enclosure, freeing 174 American prisoners, including Sgt. Dasovitch who had been captured when Company B moved into Hangelar.
Lt. Ellis was buried temporarily but was later reinterred in the American War Cemetery in Margraten, Plot P, Row 5, Grave 7. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star medal, with Oak Leaf Cluster, identifying his second award of the medal. He also received the Purple Heart for his ultimate sacrifice. I want to thank Ben Savelkoul for providing the photo of his grave marker.