505th Parachute Infantry Regt, 82nd Airborne Division

Entered the Service from: North Carolina
Died: 3-Jan-45
Buried at: Plot C Row 14 Grave 10
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery
Henri-Chapelle, Belgium

Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart

Ancestry

SGT William Franklin Reynolds:

Reynolds entered the University from Chapel Hill High School and was a student in 1931-32. After leaving the University, he was associated with the Tomlinson Furniture Co. of Greensboro and later was vice president and manager of Carolina Furniture Shops in Greensboro until he entered the U.S. Army in February 1942.

He volunteered for airborne training and went overseas with the 82nd Airborne Division in April 1943. He was one of the few who made all four combat jumps with the 82nd: in Sicily, Italy, Normandy and Holland. After jumping into Normandy on D-Day, the 82nd fought for 33 days before being relieved. By then, the division had lost nearly half of the men who jumped into Normandy.

The division jumped into Holland on Sept. 17, 1944, as part of "Operation Market-Garden," an operation designed to seize a short route into Germany. Although the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions seized their objectives, the 1st British Airborne Division was dropped on top of two SS Panzer Divisions and could not hold the bridge at Arnhem against such much heavier units. This failure at the famous "Bridge Too Far" led to the failure of the operation. The 82nd was withdrawn on Nov. 11, after 56 days of combat.

The two airborne divisions were at rest camps in France on Dec. 17, 1944, when the Germans broke through the Allied lines opposite the Ardennes Forest. The divisions were the only reserves available to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, and were rushed by truck to blocking positions, the 82nd to Werbomont, the most seriously threatened position, the 101st to Bastogne.

After furious fighting along the valley of the Salm River, the 82nd occupied defensive positions roughly along the Trois Points-Basse-Bordeau-Bra-Manhay line, which they would defend against assaults by elements of the First and Second SS Panzer and 69th Volks-Grenadier Divisions until Jan. 3, 1945. On that date, the 82nd attacked through knee-deep snow to seize the west bank of the Salm River. Reynolds was killed in action on Jan. 3, 1945. The division reached the Salm on Jan. 8, 1945. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.