SSGT Castle, Billy Hansard

Service number: 19099302

Age: 23

Born: November 21, 1920, Graham, Young County, Texas, USA

Hometown: Los Angeles, California

Family:

William Esco Castle (father) b. 1900, Gonzales, Texas

Lala Augusta (nee Hansard) Castle (mother)

Katy-Marie Castel (sister) b. Oct. 1, 1924, Burbank, Cal.

Josephine Alexa (nee Nix) Castle (wife)

Rank: Staff Sergeant

Function: Platoon Sergeant

Battalion: 23rd Armored Infantry Battalion

Division : 7th Armored Division

Company: B

Date of death: October 29, 1944

Status: Killed In Action

Place of death: Meijel, Peel en Maas Municipality, Limburg, Netherlands

Spot: On the road between Asten and Meijel.

Awards / Commendations:

★ Purple Heart

★ World War II Victory Medal

★ Combat Infantryman Badge

★ Marksmanship Badge

★ American Campaign Medal

★ Army Good Conduct Medal

★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign

Grave number: Section 12, Site 3250

Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA

Date of Enlistment: June 8, 1942, from Los Angeles, California

Other information:

Earl Jones, in his memoirs of "Buzzing of Company B" pages 33-34 is written;

"On the twenty-ninth the company was between Meijel and Liesel, Netherlands, and undergoing heavy artillery and mortar fire; they were given the mission of occupying an important area in the vicinity of Liesel and we lost several men as they moved in to take their positions. One squad, led by Billy Castle, had moved successfully to their positions under the protection of artillery, but before they could dig in a barrage of artillery from the enemy fell in their area and Castle was killed instantly. Ambrozy was injured fatally, Pistella was injured seriously and died a few moments later in the arms of a comrade. Funkhouser was killed by a mortar shell."

Listed here are the memorial listings of each

SSGT. Billy Hasnard Castle #34457393

PFC. John Samuel Pistella #34649797

PFC. Harold Woodrow Funkhouser #56281310

PVT. Anthony M. Ambrozy #56279033