Grayson County TXGenWeb

World War II
Tech Sgt William Clarence Wortham
Army - KIA - France

His Unit and Div on the move from Omaha Beach
After the D-Day Invasion and they took the beach
you can see the fed & rested men who survived the
battles. You can see supplies and vehicles landing.

Co F of the 9th Inf| 2 Inf Div
  |   
 "Old Reliables"  |  Indian Head - Div



Service Number : 6271170

b 30 Apr 1908-d 26 Jul 1944
His enlistment says
he had completed 2 years of College.
Enlisted 2 Oct 1939

The photo and paragraph from the book:
Men & Women in the Armed Forces From Grayson County

Fort Worth Star Telegram
23 Aug 1944



Fort Worth Star-Telegram
26 Aug 1944




His father - Edmond Elliott Wortham
His mother Amanda J Sutton Wortham
Siblings; Oscar, Alberta, Sam, Edward, Katherine


He was buried in an American Cemetery in France till after the war.
and finally in Vittitoe Cemetery in Kentuckytown in 1948.
(Tom Bean is the present nearest incorporated town)



Several Men from Grayson County died in that unit and place also.
( 2 Thousand Americans were killed to take the town of St Lo.)

D-Day Invasion

Normandy Heroes


The Battle of Saint-


The reason St Lo was so difficult to take.

This Battle is also called The Battle of the Hedgerows
Side note about the Hedgerows; You were trapped in the hedgerows like being in a maze. The Germans had control of Saint Lo and but we won the battle, but at a huge cost. Europe used hedgerows to surround their fields and pastures. Some are 16 feet high.
This photo and their relaxed weary walk is a sign that the Germans were pushed back and
they were in no danger.
Strangely many Bois d'arc Trees are part of fence rows in Europe, in the fossil records the Bois'd'arc trees are native only to Grayson County and Fannin County Texas. All come from here and spread around the world. This area of Texas used to send thousands of boxcars full of the bois d'arc seeds, starting in the 1880's. Even if the fence row dies it still stays standing another 100 yrs as it rots very very slowly. It is the source of most fence posts in earlier days. You cannot just break it back or snap off branches.
An American soldier wrote home and told his parents of the difficulty of finding a way through the hedges. They sent him a hacksaw and it worked so well huge amounts of them were sent to all and became part of their equipment.

 Grayson County Military Page
Susan Hawkins
©2025

If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message.