Private First-Class William Randolph Clatterbuck, born 5 Sep 1923, was the son of Herbert Earl Clatterbuck and Freta Mae (Wash) Clatterbuck of Barboursville, Orange County, Virginia. Barboursville is 71 mi NW of Richmond.

In the 1930 census 6-year-old William is living with his parents and siblings Roland 12, Paul 10, Pauline 4, and Harold 11 months, on Barbourville Road in Barbour District of Orange County, Virginia. His father is a farm laborer.

In the 1940 census 16-year-old William is living with his parents and siblings Rolland 22, Pauline 14, Harold 10, Marvin 7, Lawrence 5, and twins Frances and Freta 2, on Somerset Road, still ion the Barbour District of Orange County. His father is a laborer for the WPA.

On his Sep 1941 draft registration William is still living at home in Barboursville. He is employed at Snead & Company. Snead & Company manufactured tanks and ducts for airplanes.

William enlisted or was inducted 16 Feb 1943 at Charlottesville, Va. He’d had four years of high school and was single without dependents. His civil occupation was listed under unskilled fabrication of metal. He was 5’8” and weighed 138 lbs. He was assigned to the 60th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Infantry Division.

The 60th IR with the 9th Infantry Division landed at Utah Beach on 11 Jun 1944. From 14 -16 Jun it moved from Gorbesville (second town west of Saint Mer Eglise) west to Orglandes. Their next objective was Sainte-Colombe on the D-42 west of Orglandes and just east of the Douve River. They crossed the Douve and moved on toward Nehou.

The NARA WWII casualty listings by state and county for Virginia show Clatterback, W R, Pfc from Orange County as killed in action 18 Jun 1944 so we can assume he was killed somewhere just west of Sainte Colombe and the Douve River.

Source: American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) Facebook contributor Brian Kueker.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (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.

William Clatterbuck