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Staff Sergeant William Wilford Stephens (34601174)
Bill Stephens entered service with the squadron as a corporal and he was among the first seaborne allied soldiers to arrive in occupied Europe.
He was in the detachment of men from Troop B waved ashore onto the Îsle du Large by Cpl. Melvin F. Kinzie and Sgt. John W. Zander, just after 4am on June 6 1944.
For this he was awarded the Bronze Service Arrowhead, denoting participation in an amphibious assault.
The reverse of this image reads: ‘Me, taken in Kessel, Germany. German bomb.’ The project team thinks it may be an SC 1000 high explosive demolition bomb, nicknamed by the Germans as ‘the Hermann”.
Bill Stephens served through all 5 of the squadron’s campaigns, was eventually promoted to Staff Sergeant and received the Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre.
Like many men of the squadron, the only part of his WW2 service that he felt able to talk about afterwards were the periods of training in the US and Britain.
Bill is photographed (possibly by Corporal Joe Negri) in front of a knocked out tank. Date/location unknown.
Bill made a pact with one of his best friends, Corporal Alfred P. Whitener (34600694), as they prepared to land in Normandy. If either of them were killed, the other would visit his buddy’s family. Bill kept his promise after the war, Alfred having died in action in April 1945, less than a month before the war ended.
Bill and Alfred in training, probably in the US. Bill is in the rear of the Jeep. Alfred Whitener is driving. The 3rd trooper is currently unidentified.
Bill was wounded on August 26 1944 at Chevry-Cossigny, south east of Paris.
The squadron history from that date describes the squadron’s mission to reconnoitre to the north - ahead of the main VII Corps force - to harass and prevent heavily armed German units from moving east until allied armoured or infantry units could engage them.
His family believes that shrapnel from the hand grenade that wounded him there remained in his body for the rest of his life.
Bill returned to civilian life after receiving an Honorable Discharge. He married, had two sons and one daughter and worked as an engineer for a rubber products manufacturer.
His family are providing a wealth of information about Bill and B (Baker) Troop's service, along with details of many souvenirs he brought home from the war. And great-grandson Cash is now a part of this 24th Cav Recon project research team.
Bill’s mementos - and his medals - remained stored in a box only to be appreciated after his death.
Bill’s citation for the Croix de Guerre, awarded to the squadron by the French government.
Bill’s son Del says today: “He didn't talk about the war because it cut him up to remember.
“It was after D-Day and he was in the Battle of the Bulge and he got out of the jeep that he was supposed to be in and got in an armoured car, further back in the convoy.
"And the jeep ran over a landmine and somebody on the radio said 'well, there goes old Steve'. And that's the only thing he ever told me about it.
“We knew he had been in the squadron, but as far as any detail, no. I did ask him, but we never pushed him because it tore him up to talk about it. The only time I ever did, he started crying.
“His time in England was about the only thing he ever did talk about. He went to see Buckingham Palace and said he'd found a real queen. After that his friends called him ‘Queenie’.”
The only other time Bill talked about his war service was when the family visited the parents of a comrade.
“Daddy and him had made a pact that if either of them got killed the other one would go see his parents.
“His friend got killed on D-Day and daddy said that if he'd ever had to do it all again, he would never do that. Because he didn't know what he was getting himself into, being young like that. I think I was about 5 years old and he only told me about it when we visited them.
“As a man he was kinda quiet, didn't talk a whole lot but he enjoyed life. He enjoyed his family.
“I think he was a hero. He didn't think he was at all.”
Del’s grandson, Cash, has catalogued Bill’s remarkable collection and more will be added to the site in due course. Below, Del reflects on his father in a call we had last year, before some of the information above had come to light.
Bill Stephens was born May 28th 1924, in Waynesville, North Carolina. He died June 25th 1992, in Waynesville, North Carolina.