Private William Horace “W H” Butterworth, Jr., born 4 Dec 1920, was the son of William and Lizzie Mae (Cooper) Butterworth of Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi.

In the 1930 census 9-year-old William is living with his parents and siblings Johnny 8, Mary 5, and David 3, on Turners Mill Road in Talladega, Talladega County, Alabama. His father is farming.

WH had a brother, J.W., who died 3 Jul 1937 at 13 months old.

On his Oct 1940 draft registration 21-year-old William is living at home on Rural Route 2 in Hattiesburg and working at the Good Luck Dairy in Hattiesburg. His “person who will always know his address” is a Mrs. C E Brown, also on RR2 Hattiesburg.

WH enlisted 24 Aug 1942 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He’d had a grammar school education and was single with dependents. His civil occupation was listed under general farmers. He was assigned to the 134th Infantry Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division.

On 9 July 1944 the Regiment was placed in XIX Corps reserve and remained in that assignment until 13 July 1944 when it was ordered to relieve the 115th Infantry north of St. Lo, France. This relief was accomplished on 14 July 1944. On 15 July 1944 the 134th Infantry Regiment launched an attack to the south with Hill 122 as the initial objective and St. Lo as the final objective. The 1st and 2d Battalions of the Regiment were used as assault battalions and succeeded in advancing several thousand yards during the day. The town of Emilie was captured late in the afternoon and elements of the Regiment succeeded in reaching Hill 122 after forcing the enemy to withdraw. Both assault battalions were heavily engaged at all times during the day.

The NARA WWII casualty listings by state and county for Mississippi show Butterworth W H, Pvt from Forrest County as DOW (Died of Wounds) 15 Jul 1944 so we can assume he was mortally wounded somewhere just north of Saint-Lo.

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

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 H Butterworth Jr