William H. Nation

Captain William H. "Bill" Nation (1919 – 31 January 1945), was a Texan officer of the United States 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment (serial 0-1287569).

Military career

He was billeted at Wollaton Park, Nottinghamshire, England in World War II and shot colour 8 mm cine footage of life there as well as in Nottingham[1] and Derby.[2]

William jumped on D-Day in the same paratrooper group ("stick") as 508th Commander, Col. Roy E. Lindquist on 6 June 1944. Additionally, Nation also jumped during Operation Market Garden into the Netherlands on 17 September 1944.

He was killed in action in 1945, when an 88 mm German shell hit the building he was in while setting up a forward command post during the Battle of the Bulge. He died in Lanzerath, Belgium.[3]

William Nation was awarded a Bronze Star with an oak leaf cluster and a Purple Heart. He is buried in Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium, at Plot D Row 10 Grave 49.[4]

Legacy

His collected war-time letters were published in 1996 Letters from Captain William H. Nation : 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, United States Army : January 1941 – January 1945.[5]

The book The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment – Les Diables Rouges by Dominique Francois was dedicated to him in 2001.[6]

On 4 June 2004 Nation was covered by NBC's Today Show as part of the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day.[7]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2005/12/22/nottingham_at_war_feature.shtml
  2. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/content/articles/2005/12/21/derby_1944_film_william_nation_feature.shtml
  3. ↑ http://users.swing.be/salmriver/NationWilliamH508.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.508pir.org/taps/graves/n/nation.htm
  5. ↑ William H. Nation (1996). Bill C Nation, ed. Letters from Captain William H. Nation : 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, United States Army : January 1941 – January 1945. Wichita Falls, Texas: B. C. Nation.
  6. ↑ Dominique Francois (2001). The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment – Les Diables Rouges. OCLC 71190015.
  7. ↑ 508 PIR news, August 2004

External links

Nation's 8mm films

At the BBC

Stills at 508pir.org

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