William was born on June 20, 1919 to parents who lived in Philly, PA. His parents were Fred and Eleanor Getz.

William worked at Rohm and Haas in Bristol, PA before enlisting.

Married to Francis M.

On 24 March 1945, Nevada joined Task Force 54 (TF 54), the "Fire Support Force", off Okinawa as bombardment began prior to the invasion of Okinawa. The ships of TF 54 then moved into position on the night of the 23rd, beginning their bombardment missions at dawn on the 24th.[85] Along with the rest of the force, Nevada shelled Japanese airfields, shore defenses, supply dumps, and troop concentrations.[3] However, after the fire support ships retired for the night, dawn "came up like thunder" when seven kamikazes attacked the force while it was without air cover. One plane, though hit repeatedly by antiaircraft fire from the force, crashed onto the main deck of Nevada, next to turret No. 3. It killed 11 and wounded 49; it also knocked out both 14 in (360 mm) guns in that turret and three 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons.[86] Another two men were lost to fire from a shore battery on 5 April. Until 30 June, she was stationed off Okinawa; she then departed to join the 3rd Fleet from 10 July to 7 August, which allowed Nevada to come within range of the Japanese home islands during the closing days of the war, though she did not bombard them.[j][3]

Unit Three (Rear Admiral Bertram J. Rodgers)

2 battleships: Tennessee, Nevada

1 heavy cruiser: Wichita

2 light cruisers: Birmingham, St. Louis

4 Allen M. Sumner-class destroyers: Mannert L. Abele,[i] Zellars, Barton, O'Brien

1 Fletcher-class destroyer: Bryant

He died KIA on March 27, 1945.

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Findagrave.com

navymemorial.org

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. "If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at ElizJShaw@yahoo.com

William Getz