This posthumous officially engraved Purple Heart to William H. Greffin includes the blue presentation case. The research including the After Action Report for the day Greffin was killed shows that he was hit by a friendly aircraft bomb that made a direct hit on their tank No. C-5. There were 2 people killed in the tank that included Tech 4 Wallace Zechzer. Because the remains could not be separated, the were both buried in a common grave at Arlington.
A 1950 letter to the Department of the Army in Washington that accompanies the group, signed by the CO of Co. C 743 Tank Bn., states the following: "Our position was coordinates 863494 in the vicinity of Bardenberg, Germany. T/4 W. Zechzer, Pvt. W. Greffin, Stauffer and Schubert were in their tank while we were in a defensive position and one of our airplanes came over and scored a direct hit on their tank with a bomb. Lt. Johnson was the tank commander and happened to be out of the tank at the time. He attempted to get the four men out of the tank but was only able to get out Stauffer and Schubert. The tank burned and I imagine that is where the remains of Zechzer and Greffin would be found."
Private William Greffin was born on August 20, 1922 in the Barberton, Ohio area, the son of Helmuth and Lillian Greffin.
SOLD to a collector 04-2021
