William Ingram Lawrence
1946
Engineering
Sumter, South Carolina
Army, Sergeant
262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division
Purple Heart
Nov 28, 1924
Dec 25, 1944
Killed in action when the troop ship, SS Leopoldville, was sunk off the coast of Cherbourg, France.
Memorialized at Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France and Evergreen Cemetery , Sumter SC
SE
Personal Remembrances
Additional Information
Service # 34658347
The Belgian transport ship SS Leopoldville, an 11,500 long ton (11,700 t) passenger liner, converted for use as a troopership in the Second World War, was struck by a torpedo in the English Channel approximately five miles from the coast of Cherbourg, France on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1944, less than five months before the end of the war in Europe. Prior to the attack, the Leopoldville had made 24 cross-Channel crossings, transporting more than 120,000 troops. The Leopoldville was in a diamond formation with four escort destroyers and another troopship the SS Cheshire embarking from Southampton, England that evening.
On the day of the attack, the Leopoldville was carrying the reinforcements from the 262nd and 264th Regiments, 66th Infantry Division of the United States Army toward the Battle of the Bulge. Of the 2,235 American servicemen on board, approximately 515 are presumed to have gone down with the ship. Another 248 died from injuries, drowning, or hypothermia. Captain Charles Limbor, one Belgian and three Congolese crewmembers also went down with the ship. An unknown number of British soldiers died.
Extract from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Leopoldville
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SS Leopoldville
Memorial marker at Evergreen Cemetery, Sumter, SC
Memorial marker at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial