Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Tombstone Tuesday: William Shumate

William W. Shumate
Kentucky
Pvt 501 Prcht Inf 101 Abn Div
World War II
Feb 2 1923    Jan 3 1945

Photo taken 5 September 2010
Location: Georgetown Cemetery, Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky

Private William W. Shumate is one of Scott County's few casualties of the Second World War.  He was drafted the first of April, 1943, and as a member of Company H of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, he likely saw action during D-Day, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge.  The war for Private Shumate ended on January 3rd, 1945, at Bastogne in Belgium.  Ironically, most of the intense fighting suffered by the "Battered Bastards of Bastogne" had subsided by the end of December, 1944, with only sporadic action occurring after the first of the year.  Without his service records, the circumstances of Private Shumate's death remain a mystery that deserves to be solved.

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