Wallace Bitton was born on April 22, 1919 in Wilson, Utah. His parents George and Laura were also both born in Utah. His father worked as a sugar factory foreman and later as the factory assistant supervisor. Wallace had four older sisters, a younger sister, and two younger brothers. Wallace married Ella Wilson in 1939. He found work as a brakeman for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Wallace and Ella had two sons and a daughter.

He was drafted into the army on August 12, 1944. He became a private first class in the HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 382nd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division. His service number was 39933876. He left for the Pacific on January 17, 1945. He came to his unit as a replacement after the 96th ID had fought in the Philippines.

After landing on Okinawa on April 1, 1945 and encountering little resistance for a few days, by April 7 the 96th ID was fully engaged against a well entrenched and determined enemy. Casualties were high until the 96th ID was finally pulled off the line on April 30 to give time for refitting. Ten days later it was back in action with a goal of taking Conical-Sugar Hill Ridge. PFC Bitton was killed in the middle of this effort on May 17, 1945 when, under constant rain, his unit attacked Dick Hill.

His grave is at Washington Heights Memorial Park in Ogden, Utah. His widow remarried and died in 2007. I don't know what happened to his children.

Thank you PFC Bitton for your sacrifice.

This story 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 smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

References:

Ancestry.com for personal information and Ibibilo.org for details on Battle of Okinawa.