GREEN BERETS LeGrand, William Francis

[John Robertson]

• SURNAME

LeGrand ​

• FORENAME

William Francis (Bill)​

• UNIT

5 SF Group (Company B,Det A-216) ​

• RANK

Staff Sergeant ​

• NUMBER

13335209​

• DATE OF DEATH

28th April 1965 ​

• AGE

32 ​

• GRAVESITE

Woodlawn Cemetery,Ada,Hardin County,Ohio​

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

from Ada,Ohio​

born 12.2.1933 Wilkes-Barre,Pennsylvania​

son of William J. and Mrs LeGrand,Wilkes-Barre,Pennsylvania​

husband of Beverly Jean (nee Hattery) LeGrand,1145 East Holmes Avenue,Lima,Ohio (2 daughters Kathleen and Denise)​

entered service 28.4.1950​

medic​

graduated high school in Army​

served Korean War​

Pennsylvania National Guard​

recruiter,Fort Hayes,Columbus,Ohio​

5 SFG (Det A-254 + Det A-216) 1964-65​

award Bronze Star​

injured in accident (non hostile) 27.3.1965 Camp Hardy,Plei Do Lim,Pleiku Province,South Vietnam ​

DOI Clark AFB Hospital,Luzon,Philippines​

"died in Japan" in one source​

Vietnam Veterans Memorial,Washington,D.C. Panel 01E Line 110 ​

widow married John Gayso 31.12.1966​

​

Account by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler​

​

Sadler recalls the "horrible" event at Camp Hardy on the rainy afternoon of March 27. "Medic Billy Johnson had been playing pinochle in our underground dispensary and looking out the window. . . Suddenly, he noticed a great flash of blazing white light. Then - blam! blam! - two thunderous explosions.​

​

"Johnson and other rushed out from their shelters to discover what had happened. A bolt of lightning had struck near the barbed wire, exploding 36 of 84 Claymore mines in an irregular pattern around the entire perimeter. The deadly metal pellets had torn through building, vehicles and people."​

​

LeGrand was entering the mess hall when the lightning struck. The steel pellets caught him in the head and stomach.​

​

Gravely injured, he was evacuated first to Pleiku, then to Nha Trang and on to Saigon, and finally to Clark Air Force Hospital in the Philippines.​

​

"When I saw the boy on the bicycle looking at addresses along the street (Holmes Avenue)," Beverly recalled of the day she received word of the injury, "I knew the telegram was about Bill even before I received it."​

​

The Army flew her to Clark Air Force Hospital. Though Bill had just undergone a third operation and, because of pneumonia, was breathing through an opening surgeons had cut in his neck, he greeted his wife cheerfully and asked about their daughters.​

​

"He fought hard to live, and the doctors did everything possible during four operations. It was all in vain," Sadler wrote.​

​

LeGrand died April 28, the same date on which he had joined the Army 15 years earlier.​

​