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Personal info

Full name
WHITNEY, Wilbur Harold
Date of birth
17 June 1909
Age
35
Place of birth
Belfast, Waldo County, Maine
Hometown
Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Military service

Service number
31431174
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
unknown
Unit
379th Infantry Regiment,
95th Infantry Division
Awards
Silver Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
4 March 1945
Place of death
In the vicinity of Uerdingen, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
L 20 3

Immediate family

Members
Chester A. Whitney (father)
Mae E. (Pinette) Whitney (mother)
Walter R. Whitney (brother)
William P. Whitney (brother)
Chester A. Whitney Jr. (brother)
Dora (Poole) Whitney (wife)
Robert Whitney (son)
David Whitney (son)

More information

S/Sgt Wilbur H. Whitney enlisted in Boston, Massachusetts on 24 January 1944.

S/Sgt Whitney’s squad was protecting the withdrawal of a squad imperiled by German machine guns. With a volunteer he crawled between his own squad and the enemy where he fired his automatic rifle enabling the pinned-down unit to withdraw. He killed the entire gun crew before succumbing to it’s fire.
He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star Medal for this action.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Carla Mans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.findagrave.com - Taffy McGarry, www.ancestry.com - Whitney Family Tree / 1940 Census

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts 11 September 1945