Missing information?

Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?

Submit

Personal info

Full name
CATER, William G
Date of birth
31 December 1916
Age
28
Place of birth
Westwood, Lassen County, California
Hometown
Humboldt County, California

Military service

Service number
19013042
Rank
Corporal
Function
Squad Leader
Unit
F Company,
2nd Battalion,
513th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
17th Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
24 March 1945
Place of death
1.5 miles southwest of Hamminkeln, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
M 8 17

Immediate family

Members
Grant Cater (father)
Thelma P. (Snow) Cater (mother)
Victor Gihlstrom (stepfather)
Raymond Cater (brother)
Melvin Gihlstrom (half-brother)

More information

Cpl William G. Cater enlisted at Fort McDowell, California, on 27 September 1940.

Cpl William G. Cater was aboard a C-46 aircraft in Serial A-5, 313th TCG, 9th TCC scheduled to drop by parachute onto Drop Zone W. Due to a smokescreen and disorientation of the aircraft, his unit was dropped 2.5 miles northeast of the drop zone, east of a railway line and 1.5 miles southwest of Hamminkeln, Germany, where he was killed.

Source of information: Tom Verheijden, Peter Schouteten, Jhttp://www.ww2 airborne.us/units/513/513_honor.html, www.ancestry.com - 1920, 1930 Census / WWII Enlistment Records / U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 17th Airborne Division Historic Report of Operation Varsity, Book: The Last Drop, Operation Varsity March 24-25, 1945 by Stephen L. Wright

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, The Humboldt Times - 25 April 1945