Photos-14
***** Sgt. William F. Malone *****
Killed in Action - Jan 4, 1945
This letter, from Sgt. Joe M. Forstman on Jan 1, 1944, was sent to then Lt. William E. Reynolds, one of the officers in the 841st Ordnance Depot Co. Forstman was in a hospital somewhere in France. He had been one of the original 200 men in the 841st, with its formation and activation June 24, 1944, at Fort Knox, KY. They had trained and traveled together from Kentucky to New Jersey, across the Atlantic to England, and crossed to Utah Beach, stepping on French soil July 31, 1944. In December 1944, per orders requesting 10% of the supply company’s total, 18 men were transferred to the U.S. Army Infantry. A few volunteered, the others were chosen by those in command. Sgt. Forstman was one of those 18. Sgt. William F. Malone was the only one killed in action.
(I have transcribed the letter as written. DJH)
1-1-45
Dear Sir,
I sincerely hope this finds you well and happy as can be expected under the circumstances.
You know Lt., I never knew that so much could happen to a fellow in such a short time. I guess my bad luck started the day I was transferred and if you’ll pardon my personal experiences I’ll tell you about it.
To start with: Instead of eight weeks training we only got two days and exactly four days after I left the company I went into combat. Xmas eve morning I was wounded in the head by small arms fire. The bullet went through one side of my helmet, part of my head and right out the other side of my helmet. I was sent to 3 or 4 different hospitals and when finally on my way back to England, by air, the plane had a crash landing in the middle of nowhere. So all I know now is that I am in another hospital somewhere in France near where we landed when we came over here.
That’s enough about about (sic) myself, but when you answer I really want to know how you and the company is getting along.
Oh yes! About the assignments of the other fellows – Hollis went to the 104th Reg., Rifenbury & Galeais (sp?) to the 101st and Williams, Malone, Bragg, Sullivan & myself to the 328th. We aren’t in the same Co. though and I haven’t seen them since we went into combat.
Guess I’ll have to stop now Sir, so good luck and write soon.
Joe
For some time, I had not been able to discover much about Sgt. Bill Malone. All I had was his name and that he had lived in Meriden, Connecticut when he enlisted. I knew from the 841st History, that he was one of the 18 who were transferred to the Infantry in Dec. 1944. And the Roster listed him as the only one who had been Killed in Action.
I now have created a kind of 841st "family tree' using ancestry.com to learn more and potentially correct spellings, and locate any living relatives. Because of this, I was able to find this Headstone Application for Sgt. William F. Malone, filed by his father, Frank P. Malone, in Aug. 1948. This shed even more light on him. The family continued to live in Meriden, CT. It also listed Sgt. Malone as being in Co. K,, the 328th Infantry Regiment when he was killed. Rank TEC 4. It also noted the headstone was to be placed at the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Meriden, CT.
At about the same time, I received a copy of the letter from Sgt. Joe Forstman, to Lt. Evans Reynolds back in Jan 1945. (Thanks to Evans Reynolds Jr. for this.) And we discovered that Forstman and Malone and 3 others went to the 328th Infantry, but different companies.
With assistance from several in that area (FindAGrave friends, & the Archdiocese of Hartford), I now have located his grave there, and received the photo of his marker.
We honor his service here, along with all the men of the 841st, and all those who served.