206974 Pvt William Mabry Mayfield United States Army Company E 414 Infantry Regiment from:Shreveport,La (d.7th Nov 1944) My uncle William Mabry Mayfield received training at Fordham University and later at Carson Springs, Colorado. He arrived in Cherbourg, France in August of 44 and was killed in the Battle if the Dykes on November 7th, 1944. He was in Company E of the Timberwolves 414 Infantry. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 7th. I have just inherited a trunk of letters which tell his story. After a letter sent to Mabry was returned and marked Missing, my grandmother began contacting the mothers of the men in the same division to find out what happened to her boy. She received many letters from the mothers and finally a letter from Bill Myers, a good friend of Mabry's who had reported that he was hunkered down in a fox hole near Moerdjik, Holland and had received an 88 mm direct hit into the fox hole. My grandmother immediately sent a letter to the Mayor of Moerdjik, Holland and began corresponding with a family who searched in vain for his grave. The family's name was Kieboom and in 1949 Ann Baltussen came from Holland to Shreveport, La to visit my grandmother. These letters tell the story of a mother desperate to bring her boy home. When I was a child we would visit the family cemetery. My grandmother would always tell me that Mabry was in the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. My grandmother also received letters from Gen. Eisenhower and the White House. She stopped at nothing.
A funny story that Dean Hopson wrote to my grandmother was that it was Mabry's lot to carry the Bazooka and since it was named after a musical instrument, he took it upon himself to sing all the current popular tunes using the barrel of the gun. A soldier named Bill Myers was so kind to my grandmother and continued to write to her and show concern for her after her loss. I don't know if these gentlemen, Dean Hopson and Bill Myers are around but I would love to thank them for their friendship.
I have some interesting photos, letters and artifacts and I would love to hear from any one who has any information about my uncle. He isn't listed under missing in the archives. I am wondering about this also.
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