World War II Honor Roll

 

William F Beacht 

 U S Army 33905732
Company E, 2nd Batt, 175th Infantry, 29th Div
RankPrivate
Entered the Service 7/12/1944
Died:April 3, 1945  DNB  Germany
Buried at: Park Heights Cemetery,
Brunswick, MD

The News, April 26, 1945
PVT. WILLIAM FRANCIS BEACHT Dies Abroad
Omitting details of the circumstances of his death, the War Department on Wednesday informed Mrs. Mary Louise Abrecht Beacht, 229 East Fourth street, that her husband, Pvt. William Francis Beacht, "died in Germany" on April 3. The telegram stated that a letter would follow.
Had he lived two more days the former Bethlehem-Fairchild Shipyard worker would have been 24 years old. He was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Beacht, of Brunswick, and was well known there. Surviving besides his wife area a four year old son, William Francis, Jr. and a two year old daughter, Gloria Jean, also two sisters, Mrs. Evelyn Young and Mrs. Marjorie Wightman, of Washington, and three brothers, Wilson, with the Navy in the South Pacific, Claude, Brunswick, and Elmer Beacht, Somerville, N.J.
Inducted last July 12, he was stationed at New Cumberland, Pa., until September, when he was sent to Camp Wheeler, Ga. for paratroop infantry training. The Battle of the Bulge in Europe last December cut short his training before he could become a paratrooper and he was pulled out of camp to be sent overseas as a replacement. He left this country about the first of February after having spent six days at home, his only furlough.
Pvt. Beacht had written home regularly and often, his last letter being dated March 30. On March 8 he wrote that he was in a little town in Germany and had finally caught up with the outfit he had been assigned to, Company F of the 175th Regiment, 29th Division.
He told of walking down the street that day and running into a fellow from Brunswick named Kelly, the first friend from back home that he had seen overseas. They planned to meet as often as their individual duties would permit. So cheerful were his letters and apparently not written from a battle zone that Mrs. Beacht though her husband had not yet gone into combat. Whether he went into action the beginning of April, or whether de died in some other way remains unknown.
In his March 8 letter he told of living in a nice German house with a good bed to sleep in, hot water and lights, and sometimes, when they could get it, fried chicken for supper. "So you see we haven't got it so bad after all," he added. Subsequent letters continued in the same cheerful vein and from the same location, making it appear that he had plenty of time on his hands and had not moved forward with the Ninth Army, to which he was attached. Pvt. Beacht was a member of Evangelical Lutheran church and the Independent Hose Company, this city, and the Brunswick Aerie of Eagles.