William F. Foehl Jr.

Rank: Corporal, U.S. Army

Serial: 32756410

Unit: 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: July 28, 1944

Buried at: Arlington Cemetery, Cove and Westfield Avenues, Pennsauken NJ

Awards: Purple Heart

Corporal William Fred Foehl Jr. was born on November 15, 1915 to William F. & Florence Foehl. William Foehl Sr. was appointed to the Camden Fire Department in 1924. At that time the Foehl family owned a house at 2731 Sherman Avenue in the Cramer Hill section of Camden.

William Foehl Jr. graduated from Camden High School in June of 1935, and, according to his military records, attended college for two years. William Foehl Jr. had married and worked at the Third National Bank and Trust in Camden prior to being inducted into the United States Army on June 9, 1942 at Fort Dix. He lived with his wife Mary at 2737 Sherman Avenue in Camden.

Corporal William Foehl Jr. served as a drill instructor at Camp Blanding FL before being permanently assigned to the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division. He went overseas with this unit in February 1944 via Boston. The division landed across Omaha Beach France on June 10, 1944. The 120th Infantry captured Monmartin-en-Graignes the following day and then defended the Vire-Taute Canal line. The 120th Infantry subsequently assaulted across the Vire-Taute Canal on July 7, 1944, establishing a bridgehead at St. Jean-de-Daye which the 3rd Armored Division exploited. As the division advanced on St. Lo it checked a German counterattack along the main Hauts-Vents Highway on July 11, 1944 and Pont Hebert fell after protracted fighting July 14. Patrols reached the Periers–St. Lo Road on July 18 and the division attacked across it July 25, 1944 to drive beyond St. Lo during Operation COBRA.

It was during this action that Corporal William Foehl Jr. was killed in action on July 28, 1944 in the vicinity of Hebecrevon and Gonniviere, France. Surviving him was his wife Mary, and his parents, who lived at 6220 Westfield Avenue in Pennsauken NJ. After the war his body was brought back to the United States, and he is buried at Arlington Cemetery in Pennsauken NJ, next to his mother.