William Ceckowski Jr. (Sonny) of South River, New Jersey was killed in combat in Korea on January 29, 1951. Sonny was drafted into the Army in 1943 and served four years on active duty in Belgium and Germany during WWII. After being discharged from the Army, he joined the Reserves. His Reserve unit was called up for active duty when war broke out in Korea. Sonny died heroically in combat. He was awarded the Silver Star. His citation reads as follows: He was killed while a member of a motorized patrol. The patrol was ambushed and subjected to intense enemy fire. During bitter combat that ensued, Corporal Ceckowski moved along his squads firing line encouraging his men and directing their fire on enemy strong points. When the squad was pinned down by fire from a machine gun he crawled under covering fire to within 10 feet of the hostile position and destroyed the machine gun with hand grenades. As he stood fully exposed directing the fire of his automatic rifle team upon a group of enemy attempting to overrun the perimeter he was struck and killed by automatic rifle fire.
William Ceckowski Jr. (Sonny) of South River, New Jersey was killed in combat in Korea on January 29, 1951. Sonny was drafted into the Army in 1943 and served four years on active duty in Belgium and Germany during WWII. After being discharged from the Army, he joined the Reserves. His Reserve unit was called up for active duty when war broke out in Korea. Sonny died heroically in combat. He was awarded the Silver Star. His citation reads as follows: He was killed while a member of a motorized patrol. The patrol was ambushed and subjected to intense enemy fire. During bitter combat that ensued, Corporal Ceckowski moved along his squads firing line encouraging his men and directing their fire on enemy strong points. When the squad was pinned down by fire from a machine gun he crawled under covering fire to within 10 feet of the hostile position and destroyed the machine gun with hand grenades. As he stood fully exposed directing the fire of his automatic rifle team upon a group of enemy attempting to overrun the perimeter he was struck and killed by automatic rifle fire.
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