William Hawkins

Rank: Private, U.S. Army

Serial: 32953545

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: January 1944

Private William Hawkins was born in Georgia on March 12, 1920 to John W. and Lissie Hawkins. Like many other Black families in the 1920s and 1930s, the Hawkins family came north to Camden NJ. The family moved to New Jersey by February of 1925, when younger brother Clarence Hawkins was born. The 1930 census shows the family at 913 South 8th Street in South Camden. The 1940 Census shows the family at 770 Division Street.

William Hawkins had attended one year of high school and was married when inducted into the Army on June 7, 1943 at Camden NJ. According to Army records he was working as an automobile mechanic prior to being drafted.

What is known is that William Hawkins applied for a Social Security card (154-05-9916), was drafted late in the war, and he died of causes not relating to combat during World War II while serving in the United States Army.

William Hawkins’s brother, Clarence Hawkins, served for over 25 years with the Camden Fire Department.