William J. Giggenbach

Rank: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army

Serial: O-1303877

Unit: Military Intelligence Service, U.S. Army

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: December 27, 1944

Burial: Plot E 2039, Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly, NJ

First Lieutenant William J. Giggenbach was born on July 19, 1917, in Pennsylvania, to Bartholomew and Margaret L. Giggenbach. His parents had emigrated to America from Germany in 1914. In 1929, his half-brother Frank, a cabinetmaker, joined the family from Germany. In 1930, his father worked as a butcher in a hotel, and the family had bought a house at 311 Evergreen Avenue in Woodlynne, NJ. William Giggenbach was a 1935 graduate of Collingswood (NJ) High School. Upon graduation he attended Drexel University, and worked in the purchasing department of the New York Shipbuilding Company. On September 8, 1941, he married Jean Roberts.

William Giggenbach entered the Army on February 27, 1942. He served at Fort Dix, and was sent to Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, GA, where he was commissioned in December of 1942. He was then sent to Camp Ritchie and was promoted to First Lieutenant. He was assigned to the Army’s Military Intelligence Service, and was sent to England in April of 1943 to train British officers. During his time in this assignment he had done missions to Casablanca, Rome, and London, and was with the British when they entered Rome. First Lieutenant William J. Giggenbach was killed near Paris, France on December 27, 1944, while serving our nation. He was 27 years old.

He was survived by his wife, Jean Roberts Giggenbach, of 6 East Park Avenue, Oaklyn, NJ, and his parents, R. William and Margaret Giggenbach, of 311 Evergreen Avenue, Woodlynne, NJ, and a brother, Frank Giggenbach, of New York.