William Guarnere was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 28, 1923,[2] the youngest of 10 children, to Joseph and Augusta Guarnere, who were of Italian origin.[3] He joined the Citizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) program during the Great Depression. Guarneres mother told the government her son was 17 when he was, in fact, only 15. He spent three summers in the CMTC, which took four years to complete. His plan upon completion of training was to become an officer in the United States Army. Unfortunately, after his third year, the program was canceled due to the pending war in Europe. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and six months before graduation, Guarnere left South Philadelphia High School and went to work for Baldwin Locomotive Works, making Sherman tanks for the Army. This upset his mother, because none of her other children had graduated from high school. Guarnere switched to the night shift and returned to school, earning his diploma in 1941. Because of his work, he had an exemption from military service.[4] However, on August 31, 1942,[5] Guarnere enlisted in the Army Airborne and started training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. Military service[edit] Guarnere was assigned to Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He made his first combat jump on D-Day as part of the Allied invasion of France. Guarnere earned the nickname Wild Bill because of his reckless attitude towards the enemy. He was also nicknamed Gonorrhea, a play on the his Italian last name, as was depicted in Band of Brothers. He displayed strong hatred for his enemy, since his elder brother, Henry Guarnere, had been killed fighting in the Italian campaign at Monte Cassino. Guarnere lived up to his Wild Bill nickname. A terror on the battlefield, he fiercely attacked the Germans when he came into contact with them. In the early hours of June 6, he joined Lieutenant Richard Winters and a few others trying to secure the small village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont and the exit of causeway number 2 leading from the beach. As they headed south, they heard a German platoon coming to bring supplies and took up ambush positions. Winters told the men to wait for his order to fire, but Guarnere was eager to avenge his brother. Claiming he thought Winters might be hesitant to kill, he opened fire immediately, killing most of the unit.[6] Later, on the morning of June 6, he was also eager to join Winters in assaulting a group of four 105 mm Howitzers at Brécourt Manor. Winters named Guarnere Second Platoon Sergeant as the 11 or 12 men attacked about 50. The attack was later used as an example of how a squad could attack a vastly larger force in a defensive position.[7] Guarnere was wounded in mid-October 1944, while Easy Company was securing the line on The Island on the south side of the Rhine. As the sergeant of Second Platoon, he had to go up and down the line to check on and encourage his men, who were spread out over a distance of about a mile. While driving a motorcycle that he had stolen from a Dutch farmer across an open field, he was shot in the right leg by a sniper. The impact knocked him off the motorcycle, fractured his right tibia, and lodged some shrapnel in his right buttock. He was sent back to England on October 17.[8] While recovering from injuries, he didnt want to be assigned to another unit, so he put black shoe polish all over his cast, put his pants leg over the cast, and walked out of the hospital in severe pain. He was caught by an officer, court-martialed, demoted to private, and returned to the hospital. He told them he would just go AWOL again to rejoin Easy Company. The hospital kept him a week longer and then sent him back to the Netherlands to be with his outfit.[9][10] He arrived at Mourmelon-le-Grand, just outside Reims, where the 101st was on R and R (rest and recuperation), about December 10, just before the company was sent to the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, on December 16. Because the paperwork did not arrive from England about his court-martial and demotion, he was put back in his same position.[10] While holding the line just up the hill south west of Foy, a massive artillery barrage hit the men in their position. Guarnere lost his right leg in the incoming barrage while trying to help his wounded friend Joe Toye (who could not get up because he had also lost his right leg). This injury ended Guarneres participation in the war.[11] Guarnere received the Silver Star for combat during the Brecourt Manor Assault on D-Day, and was later decorated with two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts, making him one of only two Easy Company members (the other being Lynn Compton) to be awarded the Silver Star throughout the duration of the war while a member of Easy Company. A third man, Gerald J. Loraine (27 March 1913—19 May 1976),[12][13] received the Silver Star for his participation on D-Day, but he was a member of Service Company, 506th, not a member of Company E.[citation needed] In his autobiography, Beyond Band of Brothers; Memoirs of Major Richard Winters, Richard Winters referred to Ronald Speirs and Guarnere as natural killers. In making those statements about both men, Winters expressed respect, not negativity.[14][15] Medals and decorations[edit] Silver Star ribbon.svg Silver Star Bronze oak leaf cluster Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster Bronze oak leaf cluster Bronze oak leaf cluster Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters Bronze oak leaf cluster Presidential Unit Citation with one Oak Leaf Cluster Army Good Conduct ribbon.svg Good Conduct Medal Arrowhead Bronze star Bronze star Bronze star European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 service stars and arrowhead device World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg World War II Victory Medal Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with palm (France) - ribbon bar.png Croix de guerre with palm French Liberation Medal ribbon.png French Liberation Medal CombatInfantry.gif Combat Infantry Badge Cp2j.jpg Parachutist Badge with 2 combat jump stars
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 03:18:02 +0000
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