Earl C. Willett

Rank: Private, U.S. Army

Unit: Battery E, 7th Field Artillery

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: October 16, 1918

Private Earl C. Willett was the son of Mrs. Matilda Willett of 571 Mickle Street in Camden, NJ. He enlisted in the United States Army on May 8, 1917, and was sent to Fort Slocum, NY. He was transferred to Fort Sam Houston, TX for further training and went overseas as a member of Battery E, 7th Field Artillery.

Private Willett was badly injured during a poison gas attack during the battle for Toul, France, on March 26, 1918. His injuries were such that he was sent back to the United States for further medical treatment. He suffered from a throat and lung infection and was being treated at the Army Hospital at Otisville, NY. While home on a furlough during the Spanish influenza outbreak, he contracted the disease and died at Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ on October 16, 1918, at the age of 21.

Earl Willett was survived by his mother of the Mickle Street address, and a younger brother, Milton Willett. The family was still on Mickle Street in 1920, Milton working as a watchman at a shipyard, and Matilda Willett renting rooms in the house she owned.