A young husband, father, and New York firefighter when he joined the Army in 1944, Bill deployed with the 4th Infantry Division to Utah Beach ten days after D-Day to start six months of fighting the German army on the frontlines in Normandy, through France, across Belgium, and into Germany to the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. The longest single battle the U.S. Army ever fought, Bill recalls Hurtgen Forest as “a terrible place, that when we left was not a forest anymore.” Next up, the Battle of the Bulge, the last major offensive by the Axis Powers on the Western Front, where Bill eventually found himself “inches from a rifle to his head.” A prisoner of war, after a few hours he escaped to successfully rejoin his platoon. Though extremely outmanned, they continued to battle until relieved on Christmas Eve. The six surviving and uncaptured members of his original 40-man platoon then deployed to hold the recently captured Remagen Bridge, crossed the Rhine, and continued through Germany and into Austria encountering only sporadic resistance. The war in Europe was essentially over. Despite fighting three major battles, his company was reassigned to invade Japan, so returned secretly to the U.S. While there, Japan was bombed, WWII ended, Bill was discharged and returned to the NYFD. Bill’s medals and badges include the Bronze Star with Oakleaf Cluster “for exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy” in Hurtgen Forest, the Order of Leopold II with Palm Degree of Chevalier from Belgium, and the Croix de Guerre with Palm Leaf from France. Bill resides in Huntington Beach, is a member of American Legion Huntington Beach Post 133, is 101 and a stellar example of The Greatest Generation.