First row - News articles recounting death of William Gacek
who was killed when he fell through a skylight while working as a
roofer. Second row - Headstone application and
resulting marker for William Gacek in the White Cloud Cemetery, White
Cloud, Michigan . Note that the application
initially stated that he was a member of the 508th Medical Detachment
and also the 507th Medical Battalion. Both entries were redlined
and a remark to see the reverse side was entered. Unfortunately,
the reverse image is not available but the grave marker entry states
307th Airborne Medical Battalion which should indicate his last unit
assignment. Note also that the cemetery is entered as Prospect
Hill but it has since been renamed as the White Cloud Cemetery.
Pvt Gacek was transferred into Service Company, 508th
PIR from Hq 19th Replacement Depot on 17 June 1944. On 14 July
1944 he was then transferred into the Medical Detachment.
Pvt Gacek jumped into Holland on 17 September 1944 and
was wounded in action there on 16 October. In fact, he may have
been wounded twice that same day as his name appears on two separate
orders awarding the Purple Heart.
Pvt Gacek was appointed to the rank of Pfc on 18
December 1944, the same day that the regiment was mobilized for the
Battle of The Bulge. It was in Belgium that he was wounded in
action for the second time on 7 January 1945.
It is not known when he transferred from the 508th but
it was probably in the second half of 1945. |