William L. Russell WWII, Korea

"King of PurpleHearts"

William L. Russell was born July 26, 1914 near Cecil, Arkansas in Franklin County. He attended high school in Charleston, Arkansas and entered Arkansas State Teachers College (now known as University of Central Arkansas) in 1936 on a football scholarship. He was a 4year letterman, an all AIC Tackle, and Captain of the 1940Team. On 2 February 1937 he joined Company G, 153rd Infantry, Arkansas National Guard, in Conway as a Private and rose to the rank of Sergeant by 23 December 1940 when the unitwas mobilized for servicein the Aleutian Islands. Following training and duty at Camp Robinson he was promoted to 2^nd Lieutenant on 19July 1941 and assigned to the 4th Infantry Regiment, 7th Division with the mission of eliminating the Japanese from the outer Aleutian Islands. On 4 July 1942 he was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant and he received his first Purple Heart in May of 1943 fora shrapnel woundto the leg. Later in 1943 he was assigned to the Basic Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

In the Spring of 1944 he was assigned to Ft. Rucker, Alabama as an Infantry training officer and in July of 1944 he was ordered to Europe and assigned toCompany I,of the 330th Infantry Regiment of the 83rd Division known as the "Ohio"Division of General George Patton's 3rd Army.

Serving as Executive Officer and Company Commander, he was wounded at St.Lo and again at Brest, France. Later in the Huertgen Forest near Aachen and the Roer River he suffered three more wounds in rapid succession.

During the battle of the Bulge he was commanding an armored column and was hit twice more with the last wound knocking him out of action. His citation read inpart: "Company I was meeting varied enemy resistance from snipers and automatic and high velocity weapons. As Captain Russell moved under a railway overpass he was wounded in theright arm by a shell fragment from a high velocity weapon. Refusing treatment he continued with his company in the attack. The next morning the advance of his company and attached tanks was held up by an enemy road block. As Captain Russell moved forward to investigate he was severely wounded in the right arm by fragments from an enemy Panzerfaust fired at his tanks.

Only after he had successfully maneuvered his company around the roadblock did he permit himself to be evacuated for treatment. "Credited with a large part of the Aachen rescue of elements of the 101st Division cut off from its supplies and assistance from a sudden German counterattack, he was promoted to Captain 3 February 1945 and medically returned to the United States in May of 1945 withthe original Purple Heart, a silver cluster representing 5 additional wounds and two bronze clusters for an equivalent of 8 Purple Hearts.

Captain Russell was also awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Pre-Pearl Harbor ribbon, the American Theater ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific ribbon with 2 stars, the European Theater ribbon with 5 stars, and the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon_ He

received more decorations than any other soldier in the 83rd Division during World War II. There were 68 Divisions dispatched to Europe inWWII and the 83^rd ranked 9^th in the number of combat deaths.

He was once ordered for trial on a AWOL charge. He and a Major Bill White had beenordered back to a field hospital for treatment. Walking with a cane and bedroom slippers he and White jumped off the convoy taking them to the hospital and returned to their units. The hospital officials reported them AWOL. During the subsequent courtmartial Major General Robert Macon, Commander of the 83rd Division congratulated the officers and explained that his court "didn't penalize men for going AWOL toward the front".

One of his feats was his leadership of a Reconnaissance Party across the Roer River near Strauss, Germany to secure desperately needed intelligence about the size and position of German forces protecting the river. Crossing the river at night the party met German fire and Captain Russell dispersed his men and rantoward the riverwhere he was shot in the leg. He lay in the icy waters of the river for over an hour while the Germans searched for him. He crawled under an overhanging embankment and remained until he could signal his men to assemble. They captured several German Officers and NCO's and returned to the Allied lines without any losses.

Following the War and release from active duty he campaigned for Sheriff of Franklin County,Arkansas and won election to that office in both 1946 and 1948. While in office he rejoined the Arkansas National Guard and was instrumental in forming Battery C, 937th Field Artillery Battalion, of the 142nd Field Artillery at Ozark, Arkansas. Once established in 1947 hecommanded the Battery, graduated from the Artillery Basic Officer's course and led the unit into mobilization 31 August 1950 with subsequent deployment to Korea in January of 1951. The 937^th arrived in Puson, Korea 10February 1951 was assigned to 8^th Army, I Corps, sent to Inchon on 14