Hometown: Dandridge, TN
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division
Military Honors: Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: February 27, 1945 - KIA east of Düren, Germany (likely) 
Age: 29
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Just west of Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, Herbert Williams was born on October 28, 1915, to Decatur and Viola (Burchfiel) Williams. With his older sister, Nancy, and younger brother, Boyd, the family lived in the small town of Dandridge—a half-hour’s drive east of Knoxville, on the shores of Douglas Lake.

According to his great-granddaughter, Herbert attended school through the 7th grade. At the age of 19, he married Lettie Jane Henderson on March 30, 1935. The two would later welcome four children: Charles, Herbert Jr., Bessie, and Raymond.

Five years later, in 1940, war was raging across Europe and in the South Pacific. After hundreds of thousands of Americans were killed or wounded in World War I just two decades earlier, the American people were in no mood to get involved in another foreign conflict.

Although technically at peace, it became clear that America had to prepare for the possibility of war. Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.

Like all American men between the ages of 18 and 45, Herbert was required to register for possible military service. On his draft registration card, Herbert—then 24 years old—listed the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Jefferson as his employer.

The TVA’s construction of hydroelectric dams would supply electricity for factories that churned out an unprecedented number of airplanes, ships, and bombs for America’s war machine in the coming years.

Everything would change on December 7, 1941, with a surprise attack by Imperial Japan on the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The next day, at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan. Germany and Italy, who were allied with Japan, responded by declaring war on the United States.

In March of 1944, Herbert Williams joined the fight by enlisting in the United States Army and reporting to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, for training. According to his great-granddaughter, “the Williams family was very upset that Herbert joined the military.”

He was assigned to the 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry “Golden Arrow” Division. Soldiers in the 8th Division wore a blue shoulder patch with a gold arrow piercing the number 8.

Williams’ division arrived in France in early July 1944, landing on Normandy’s Utah Beach a few weeks after the D-Day invasion began. They moved inland, capturing the French cities of Rennes and Brest.

With the Allied forces attempting to push Hitler’s army back east toward Germany, in the fall and winter of 1944, Williams’ 121st Infantry Regiment took part in the lengthy and bloody Battle of Hürtgen Forest near Belgium’s border with Germany. According to the National Parks Service:

The forest’s dense, rugged terrain made it an unfavorable battleground, yet it became the longest single battle ever fought by the U.S. Army and the longest battle on German soil during the war. The Americans sought to break through the Siegfried Line, Germany’s defensive barrier, before advancing deeper into the country.

Six months after arriving in Europe, on February 27, 1945, PFC Herbert G. Williams was killed somewhere in Germany, at age 29. On that date, his 121st Regiment had just captured the town of Düren and was likely positioned somewhere between the Roer River and the Erft Canal. In pursuit of retreating German forces, PFC Williams sacrificed his life freeing Europe from Nazi occupation.

He is laid to rest with his fellow soldiers at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Plombières, Belgium (Plot H, Row 6, Grave 16).

Sources
Details and card photo submitted by Mrs. Carie Beth Seaton, PFC Williams’ great-granddaughter
Jefferson County Standard, March 29, 1945: With Our Boys in the Service
East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association: Herbert G. Williams
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: 8th Infantry Division Campaigns during World War II
United States Army: Eighth Infantry Division, a combat history by regiments and special units [U.S. Army. 13th Infantry Regiment] (1946). World War Regimental Histories. 121.
Warfare History Network: Operation Grenade: Race to the Roer
American Battle Monuments Commission, Search (Advanced) Herbert G. Williams
Burial Site: Find a Grave