The 70th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army activated for service in World War II on June 15, 1943 at Camp Adair, Oregon. They trained there and at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The division left for Europe in December 1944.

The three infantry regiments of the 70th Infantry Division, the 274th, 275th and 276th began arriving in Marseilles, France in December 1944 and were assigned to the Seventh Army. In late December, they fought along the Rhine River as part of Operation Nordwind.

They moved to Saarbrucken, Germany in January 1945. They fought from Sarrguemines to Morsbach in Germany.

In February 1945, the 70th division was fighting along the Saar River. They liberated Forbach, France. The town of Stiring-Wendel, in northeast France, was the home to several POW camps. The 70th Division liberated the town in March and freed more than 1,000 allied prisoners. In March, they captured Saarbrucken and crossed the Siegfried Line. They continued to fight along the Saar River until Victory in Europe Day on May 8, 1945. They served as occupation forces in Germany before deactivating for service in October 1945.

SSG Bruce J. Williams served with Company I of the 274th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army.

Bruce Jefferson Williams was born March 5, 1915 in Fayette Township, Lafayette County, Wisconsin to John Bailey and Leila (Shellito) Williams.

Bruce’s mother was born and raised in Fayette Township in Lafayette County. His father was from Pennsylvania. His parents were married in Lafayette County in 1912. Bruce’s older brother Leland was born in Pennsylvania in 1913, sister Marion was born in 1919, and younger brother Richard was born in 1923, both in Pennsylvania.

On the 1920 U.S. Census, the Williams family lived in Greenville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The household included father J. B., mother Leila, and children Leland, Bruce, and Marion. Father J. B. was a fireman for the railroad and mother Leila was a housekeeper. 

On the 1930 U.S. Census, the Williams family was in a new home which they owned in Greenville Borough, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Father John was a trainman for the railroad. The family now included son Richard Benjamin.

On Feb. 11, 1932, Bruce’s mother Leila died in Greenville. She was buried in Union Grove Cemetery in Darlington in Lafayette County.

At an unknown date, father John Bailey remarried Mabelle F. Arters Benton. It was a second marriage for them both. (Note: This researcher could not find them on the 1940 U.S. census, or a date of marriage for them).

On the 1940 U.S. Census, Leland was married and living with his wife’s family in Sugar Grove Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Marion was a lodger living in rural Greenville Township in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

On the 1940 U.S. Census, Bruce Williams was living in Fayette Township in Lafayette County. He was working as a farm laborer for wages for W. Stanley and Olive McGranahan at their farm. Bruce was 23 and had two years of high school.

On the same census, Bruce’s brother Richard Benjamin was 16 and living with his grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Shellito in Darlington. 

On Oct. 16, 1940, Bruce J. Williams registered for the WWII Draft. Bruce was 25 and working for W. S. McGranahan on his farm in Fayette Township, where he lived. His next of kin was his brother, Richard Ben. Williams.

According to the January 16, 1941 The Capital Times article “16 Lafayette Men Called to Army Service,” the news from Darlington was that “Sixteen Lafayette county men called for army service will leave here next Wednesday…” There were 11 volunteers and that included Bruce Williams of Argyle. Five others were drafted to meet the quotas.

On Jan. 23, 1941, Bruce J. Williams enlisted for service at Milwaukee, Wisconsin prior to U.S. entry in WWII. He was single without dependents and was working as a farm hand in general farming. He lived in Lafayette County.

From the February 1945 U.S. WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, Bruce J. Williams was a battle casualty caused by multiple wounds caused by bullets, including his head. He was killed in action on February 17, 1945, likely near the Saar River in France.

In the March 12, 1945 The Capital Times notice, “Sgt. B. J. Williams Killed in Action,” the information from Darlington was “S/Sgt. Bruce J. Williams, former resident here, was killed in action in France Feb. 17, the war department has informed his father, J. B. Williams, Albion, Pa.

“Sgt. Williams was born at Fayette, north of Darlington, and made his home with an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. John Seigenthaler, at Fayette.

“He enlisted in January, 1941. In December of that year, he was sent to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where he served two years. He left last December for the European theater.

“Survivors include his father, two brother, Pvt. Bennie, German prisoner of war, and Leland, Osgood, Pa., and one sister, Marion, Greenville, Pa.”

SSG Bruce J. Williams was temporarily buried in the Epinal Cemetery in Epinal, France. According the wishes of his next of kin, he was repatriated and reburied at Gettysburg National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania.

From the April 10, 1948 The Evening Sun article titled “Military Funerals Will Be Conducted,” the news from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was “Alvan C. Baker, superintendent of the Gettysburg National cemetery announced today that military funerals for veterans brought from overseas will begin on Tuesday and will continue almost daily for ten days.” The listed included S. Sgt. Bruce J. Williams from Albion.

The U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms for the Gettysburg National Cemetery recorded that SSG Bruce J. Williams was reburied on April 21, 1948.

Staff Sergeant Bruce Jefferson Williams is listed on the National WWII Memorial Registry for Lafayette County, Wisconsin. He received the Purple Heart, awarded posthumously.

Thank you, Staff Sergeant Bruce Jefferson Williams, for your service to and ultimate sacrifice for this country. We honor you and remember you.