Private William D. Cross, United States Army. Service Number: 16062093

Early Life

William D. Cross was born on 8 January 1924 in Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan. His father Clifford C. Cross, born 25 September 1898 in Scottville, Mason County, Michigan, died 25 February 1957 in Fremont, Newaygo County, Michigan, was a Truck Driver. His mother Orabelle “Cora” Eaton was born on 23 August 1901 in Michigan and died on 19 November 1951 in Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan. William’s parents were married on 10 May 1919 in Muskegon, Michigan. William was the third of seven children in the family; he had two older brothers, two younger brothers and two younger sisters.

Military

William D. Cross enlisted in the U.S. Army on 10 February 1942 in Detroit, Michigan. After basic training and additional follow-on training, he was assigned to Company A, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

The 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated at Camp Toccoa, Georgia on 15 November 1942. The 501st was part of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II and the Vietnam War.

Camp Toccoa, GA, c. 1942 - The famous test platoon, the prime ancestor of all American parachute units, provided the nucleus of the 1st Parachute Battalion, which in turn provided part of the cadre, the unit number, the genealogical lineage and the heraldic background of the 501st Parachute Regiment. Its initial group of officers was hand-picked by its first commander, Colonel Howard R. Johnson. Known by his peers as "Skeets", he was very much in the swashbuckling mold of most of the original parachute regimental commanders, of whom the popular saying was "To command a parachute unit, you don't have to be nuts, but it helps!"

Johnson attended the Naval Academy for two years; he boxed while a midshipman. He had transferred to the Army after leaving Annapolis and had most recently been at the tank destroyer center before volunteering for parachute duty. To say that he took to parachuting is a gross understatement: he ate, slept, and breathed it, and jumped whenever he possibly could, often jumping many times in a single day. His nickname among his men became "Jumping Johnson." He was a zealot on physical conditioning, for himself and everyone in his regiment, and personally led calisthenics, running and all other physical activities. He set a record for running up Currahee Mountain (which loomed over Camp Toccoa) and challenged anyone in the regiment to beat his time. A heavy punching bag hung outside his quarters, and when not punching that, Johnson could often be seen throwing his huge knife at hanging plywood replicas of Hitler and Hirohito.

All members of the regiment were parachute volunteers, but only a minor fraction were actually qualified jumpers during training at Camp Toccoa, GA. So, when that very arduous training was over in March 1943, the unit marched to Atlanta, GA, a distance of 105 miles (169 km). They then moved to Fort Benning, GA, to jump train all members not previously qualified.

With jump training over, the regiment was assigned to the Airborne Command at Camp MacKall, NC. This was its home base during prolonged maneuvers in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana, and until January 1944, when the regiment deployed to England, by way of Camp Myles Standish, MA. Once in England the 501st became a permanent attachment of the 101st Airborne Division and was a vital part of that famous unit for the duration of World War II.

In England, training was hard, realistic and became increasingly oriented toward an airborne assault into German-held Europe. Although none of the soldiers knew this initially, the regiment was training for Operation Overlord, the secret allied plan for the combined air, naval, amphibious, and airborne operations to breach Hitler's "Atlantic Wall." As D-Day drew closer, a few key commanders and staff were briefed on the part the 101st would play in Operation Overlord. Then with D-Day just days away, the 501st with the rest of the division was sequestered in well-guarded marshaling camps where every man finally learned his own mission and the overall mission of the 501st and the 101st Airborne Division. These very extensive and intensive briefings were to later prove vital during actual operations.

The 501st (less 3rd Battalion) took off from Merryfield Airport at 2245, 5 June 1944, while the 3rd Battalion departed at the same time from Welford. All units flew across the English Channel and were set to drop into Normandy, five hours prior to the seaborne landing. The 501st drop zones were north and east of Carentan. Two battalions were to seize key canal locks at La Barquette and destroy bridges over the Douve River, while the third battalion was in division reserve.

The troop aircraft formations were widely scattered due to a combination of low clouds, poor visibility and enemy anti-aircraft fire. This caused highly scattered drops and units were widely dispersed across the battlefront. The ensuing action bore little resemblance to their briefing, but because the soldiers were well prepared, the regiment and the division accomplished its multiple missions, but none of them as rehearsed. The success was credited to the initiative, stamina, and daring of individual parachutists, who decided how best to accomplish some part of the overall mission. The capture of a key causeway from Utah Beach at Pouppeville by a scratch force of about 100 officers and men, formed around a nucleus from the 3rd Battalion (division reserve) of the 501st, was typical. Members of this ad hoc force included both General Maxwell Taylor and Assistant Division Commander Gerald Higgins. General Taylor later quipped that, "Never were so few led by so many."

Fierce fighting in Normandy by no means ended with D-Day, but continued with important results in assisting the amphibious landings and joining the beach at Utah to that at Omaha. The efforts of the 501st came at high cost: the regiment lost 898 men killed, wounded, missing, or captured.

Death and Burial

William D. Cross was Killed in Action on 6 June 1944 at Saint-Georges-de-Bohon, Departement de la Manche, Basse-Normandie, France. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal and was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France, Plot: C, Row: 18, Grave: 42.

Sources

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56643595/william-d-cross

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=62511

https://www.fold3.com/page/638699169/william-d-cross/facts

https://www.fold3.com/page/529911201/william-d-cross/facts

https://www.fold3.com/page/84387866/william-d-cross/facts

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=4300842&tid=&pid=&queryId=114e68c6b0b60538a832da9a3bebeb28&usePUB=true&_phsrc=5ru-1360103&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9170/images/42861_647350_0538-00384?pId=4788

This story was written by Robert J. “Red” Mulvanny, U.S. Navy (Retired) and is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story. If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by.”"