William J. Goodwin

                         Name: William J. Goodwin

                         Branch of Service: U.S. Army

                         Unit: 4th Armored Division

                         Rank: Sergeant

                         Dates of Service: Jul. 1943-Feb. 1946

                         Area of Service: Europe

Dr. Goodwin's remembrances of WWII:

I graduated from Scottsville HS in 1943.  I was drafted in the U S Army in July 1943 and shipped overseas the following February.  I was stationed in Wales and England and landed on Omaha Beach on D Day +6.  I was with the 4th Armored Division and fought in 5 campaigns in five countries.  I was in combat for 310 days and was fortunate in not being wounded.  My unit was the one that broke through the German lines and relieved the 101st Airborne Division that had been holding Bastogne, Beligum during the Battle of the Bulge.  It was very cold with snow on the ground, and I had my feet frostbitten.  This photo was taken of me and my unit near Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. It was 15 degrees Fahrenheit with over a foot of snow on the ground.  Too cold for this southern boy!"

My unit was awarded the Presidental Citation, the French Croix de Guerre and the Beligum Croix de Guerre and 5 battle stars.  We liberated the Orhdorf Concentration Camp which was the first concentration camp liberated by Allied forces.  Following the conflict I was in the Army of Occupation in southern Germany for some 8 months.  I returned to the USA in February 1946 having spent 2 years in the ETO.  I was discharged with the rank of Sergeant.

I attended college on the G.I. Bill receiving the BS,MS and PhD degrees.  After graduate school I join the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service.  I served 7 years in international health programs in Libya, Haiti, and Jamaica.  I spent 12 years as a Scientist-Administrator at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, and retired from the USPHS in 1975 with the rank of Captain (USPHS uses US Navy ranking).

Dr. William J. Goodwin, Portland, OR

Addendum:
After WWII, Dr. Goodwin met and married Kathleen Turner, a former member of the U.S. Women's Army Corps.  They went on to attend Oklahoma State University together, and later the Goodwins lived all over the world: Kathleen was an accomplished artist, and Bill served as a U.S. public health service officer. The Goodwins raised two children, James A. Goodwin and Susie O'Day, in a marriage that lasted 63 wonderful years. Sadly, Kathleen passed away on 30 October 2010 in Portland, Oregon, and the following obituary was published on obits.oregonlive.com that tells more about the wonderful life Kathleen and William shared: