Private William H. Hudson (1923–1943)

*Private William H. Hudson (Courtesy of the Delaware Public Archives)*

Residences	Civilian Occupation
New Jersey, Delaware	Worker for the Pennsylvania Railroad
Branch	Service Number
U.S. Army	32751701
Theater	Unit
European	Company “G,” 29th Infantry Regiment

Early Life & Family

William Henry Hudson was born on January 27, 1923, in Barrington, New Jersey. He was only known child of Alfred L. Hudson (1899–1973) and Eva Hudson (née Stout, 1902–1984). When he was recorded on the census in April 1930, Hudson was living with his parents at the home of his paternal grandparents, Alfred C. Hudson (c. 1873–1956) and Katie Hudson (c. 1874–1950): 8 Lawrence Avenue in Barrington. His father was described as a salesman at a gas and oil station, while his grandfather was working as a carpenter. It appears that the Hudsons lost their home through foreclosure around July 1931.

Census records indicate that the entire family had moved to 207 South Bedford Street in Georgetown, Delaware, by April 1, 1935. They were recorded there during the 1940 census.

After graduating from Georgetown High School in 1941, Hudson and his family moved north to the area of Wilmington, Delaware. Journal-Every Evening reported that “Hudson was active in the young people’s work at the First and Central Presbyterian Church [in Wilmington]. He was a leader in Christian Endeavor work at the church and sang bass in the choir.”

When Hudson registered for the draft on June 30, 1942, he was unemployed and living with his parents at 401 Bellefonte Avenue in Bellefonte, Delaware, a small town east of downtown Wilmington. The registrar described him as standing five feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 159 lbs., with blond hair and blue eyes and a scar on his left ring finger.

Hudson’s enlistment data card described his occupation as “semiskilled welders and flame cutters.” His father told the State of Delaware Public Archives Commission that his son worked for a paint shop for the Pennsylvania Railroad prior to entering the service. However, his name was omitted from that railroad’s World War II memorial, displayed at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. Hudson’s father was also involved in war work at the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company.

Military Career

After he was drafted, Hudson was inducted into the U.S. Army in Camden, New Jersey, on February 18, 1943. Most draftees who entered the service from Delaware were placed on inactive duty for a few days or weeks. Private Hudson went on active duty on February 25, 1943, and was briefly attached to Company “D,” 1229th Reception Center, Fort Dix, New Jersey. On March 1, 1943, Hudson departed Fort Dix by train. Soon after, he began basic training at Camp Wolters, Texas.

Private Hudson’s individual deceased personnel file is unusually well-detailed compared to the average World War II I.D.P.F. Enclosures include an autopsy report and this extract from his personnel file. (National Archives)

After basic, Private Hudson transferred to the 29th Infantry Regiment per Special Orders No. 152, Headquarters Infantry Replacement Training Center, Camp Wolters, Texas, dated June 26, 1943. He joined his new regiment at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, around July 1, 1943. The 29th Infantry was a separate regiment, not part of any infantry division.

On July 3, 1943, Private Hudson joined Company “G,” 29th Infantry Regiment. Early on July 29, 1943, his unit departed Fort Jackson by rail, arriving the following afternoon at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. On the afternoon of August 6, 1943, Hudson and his comrades boarded a train for the Boston Port of Embarkation, where they boarded the former ocean liner turned troop transport S.S. Mariposa at 1900 hours. They set sail the following morning, arriving at Reykjavík, Iceland, on the morning of August 13, 1943. Hudson and his company went ashore at 1500 hours and traveled by truck to Camp Bytown.

Three years earlier, the British had invaded Iceland without provocation, albeit bloodlessly. Their objectives were both to obtain bases in the North Atlantic and to deny the strategic island to the Germans. Even before the American entry into World War II, U.S. forces began relieving the British, and the occupation continued for the duration of the war. Although important to the Allies, its distance from Axis-held territory meant the Iceland saw little action during the war. Though German U-boats prowled the waters offshore, the island itself only occasionally came under air attack and there was no real threat of German invasion.

A roster dated September 11, 1943, compiled when the 29th Infantry was reorganized under updated tables of organization, listed Private Hudson’s duty and military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) codes as 521, basic. That suggested he had not qualified for a specific M.O.S. yet. Basics assigned to a rifle company could immediately fill slots vacated due to attrition without the unit having to take on replacements. As a basic, Hudson would have been a member of company headquarters rather than a particular rifle platoon. It is unclear if he was assigned an M.O.S. such as rifleman prior to his death. On the morning of September 23, 1943, Company “G” left Camp Bytown and moved to nearby Camp Bournemouth.

*An American ship at Reykjavík, Iceland, on August 6, 1941 (Official U.S. Army Air Forces photo, National Archives via Fold3)*

*American soldiers disembark at Reykjavík on June 28, 1944 (Official U.S. Army Air Forces photo, National Archives via Fold3)*

*Newly arrived soldiers are greeted with doughnuts while they wait for transport on June 28, 1944 (Official U.S. Army Air Forces photo, National Archives via Fold3)*

*Company “G,” 29th Infantry Regiment roster mentioning Private Hudson (National Archives)*

On or about December 10, 1943, Hudson became ill with fever, a cough, headache, and chest pain. Around 1400 hours on December 13, 1943, he sought treatment at the 2nd Battalion aid station. By the time he was admitted to the 366th Station Hospital at Camp Laugarnes in Reykjavík at 1600 hours that same day, Hudson was running a 103.8°F fever. He was diagnosed with bronchopneumonia.

Private Hudson’s condition continued to worsen during the next two days as he continued to have a high fever, and developed an elevated pulse with rapid breathing. Although treated with sulfadiazine and oxygen, Hudson died at 2245 hours on the night of December 15, 1943. During an autopsy, Captain Louis Odessky determined that Hudson’s death with due to necrotizing bronchopneumonia in both lungs. His death was in the line of duty.

Journal-Every Evening reported on December 20, 1943:

Word of his death on Dec. 15, in Iceland, was received by the parents Saturday afternoon [December 18, 1943,] at 1:30 o’clock in a telegram from the War Department. No details were given.

Private Hudson’s mother said her son, her only living child, entered the Army in the infantry Feb. 25, 1943, and has never been home on furlough. She said the family had never seen him since he entered the service. […]

In his last letter home, received about eight weeks ago, Private Hudson wrote that he had a bad cold, but otherwise was well. His mother said her son was subject to colds and did not like the Iceland climate. […]

Public announcement of his death was made by the Rev. Dr. Willard G. Purdy, pastor, from the pulpit of First and Central Presbyterian Church yesterday morning. Dr. Purdy paid tribute to Private Hudson’s character and to his leadership among the young people of the church and said he will “be greatly missed.”

Hudson’s personal effects included several prayer books and Bibles, two rings, a knife, a box of photographs, and two fountain pens. In a letter preserved in Hudson’s individual deceased personnel file (I.D.P.F.) dated April 17, 1944, Hudson’s mother complained that some of her son’s belongings were never returned to the family, including his high school class ring and two graduation presents: an Elgin wristwatch and a Waterman fountain pen and pencil set. She added:

          It would mean much to us to have these things that meant so much to him. In one of his last letters he told us that his watch was still keeping very good time.

          It is very hard to lose an only living child, and I hate to think that anyone would take from a dead comrade things that had meant much to him. […]

          It is hard enough to lose him but made doubly so by the fact that he died so far from home and the fact that we never saw him or even heard his voice, from the day of his induction into the army. It is a bitter loss for us.

There is no indication in Hudson’s I.D.P.F. that the missing items were ever found.

*Three photos from Hudson’s first funeral, in Iceland, are preserved in his I.D.P.F. (Official U.S. Army Signal Corps photos, National Archives)*

Private Hudson was initially buried at Fossvogur, Iceland, on December 20, 1943. After the war, Private Hudson’s parents requested that their son’s body be repatriated to the United States. Journal-Every Evening reported that Private Hudson was among the first 11 Delawareans to be repatriated from Europe after the war, arriving aboard the Joseph V. Connolly at the New York Port of Embarkation on October 26, 1947. New York City honored the 6,251 war casualties she carried. The Associated Press reported: “Police estimated that 250,000 persons watched the funeral procession and 150,000 attended memorial services in Central Park as guns roared and church bells tolled.”

The following month, Private Hudson’s casket finally returned home to Delaware. After his funeral, held at his church on November 21, 1947, Hudson was buried at Gracelawn Memorial Park in New Castle. Journal-Every Evening reported that a “bugler and firing squad were provided by the Delaware National Guard,” with the Veterans of Foreign Wars providing an honor guard and some of the pallbearers. His parents were also buried there after their deaths. Private Hudson is honored at Veterans Memorial Park nearby.

Notes

Only Child?

Private Hudson was his parents’ only known child. However, the wording of his mother’s letter and a Journal-Every Evening article which described Hudson as his mother’s “only living child” may suggest that he had a sibling or siblings who were stillborn or died young.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the Delaware Public Archives for the use of their photo.

Bibliography

“Alfred C. Hudson.” Journal-Every Evening, December 19, 1956. https://www.newspapers.com/article/153169218/

Application for Headstone or Marker for William H. Hudson. March 31, 1949. Applications for Headstones, January 1, 1925 – June 30, 1970. Record Group 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/106484471?objectPage=1239

Brumbaugh, A. M. “Weekly Report of Burials. No. 68.” Undated, c. January 23, 1944. Headquarters Services of Supply European Theater of Operations United States Army. Office of the Chief Quartermaster. (European) Weekly Burial Reports, 1944. Record Group 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/9/2682/28268209/content/dc-metro/rg-092/650218/Box_237/650218_Box_237_Folder_3c/650218_Box_237_Folder_3c.pdf

Census Record for William H. Hudson. April 4, 1930. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRHY-WLX

Census Record for William H. Hudson. May 3, 1940. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MR-M9XL

Draft Registration Card for William Henry Hudson. June 30, 1942. Draft Registration Cards for Delaware, October 16, 1940 – March 31, 1947. Record Group 147, Records of the Selective Service System. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMG-X9FV-Q

Enlistment Record for William H. Hudson. February 18, 1943. World War II Army Enlistment Records. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at College Park, Maryland. https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&cat=all&tf=F&q=32751701&bc=&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=3297624

“Funeral Held for Soldier Who Died in Iceland.” Journal-Every Evening, November 21, 1947. https://www.newspapers.com/article/153161272/

“GI Who Died in Iceland To Be Buried Friday.” Journal-Every Evening, November 19, 1947. https://www.newspapers.com/article/153167294/

Hospital Admission Card for 32751701. December 1943. U.S. WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942–1954. Record Group 112, Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army), 1775–1994. National Archives at College Park, Maryland. https://www.fold3.com/record/702769390/hudson-william-h-us-wwii-hospital-admission-card-files-1942-1954

Hudson, Alfred L. Individual Military Service Record for William Henry Hudson. October 25, 1944. Record Group 1325-003-053, Record of Delawareans Who Died in World War II. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://cdm16397.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15323coll6/id/19289/rec/10

Individual Deceased Personnel File for William H. Hudson. Individual Deceased Personnel Files, 1939–1953. Record Group 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri.

“Initial Roster Company ‘G’, 29th Infantry.” September 11, 1943. U.S. Army Muster Rolls and Rosters, November 1, 1912 – December 31, 1943. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/st-louis/rg-064/85713803_1940-1943/85713803_1940-1943_Roll-1545/85713803_1940-1943_Roll-1545_15.pdf

Morning Reports for 366th Station Hospital. December 1943. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1943-12/85713825_1943-12_Roll-0563/85713825_1943-12_Roll-0563-23.pdf

Morning Reports for Company “D,” 1229th Reception Center. February 1943 – March 1943. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2845/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2845-04.pdf, https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2845/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2845-05.pdf