Pvt. Willis H. Hawkins (July 9, 1919 – November 2, 1944)
3rd Reconnaissance Troop, 3rd Infantry Division
by James Barger and Elizabeth Klements
Early Life
Willis H. Hawkins was born on July 9, 1919, in Istachatta, Florida, to James Perry Hawkins and Eva L. Luttrell.1 They married on June 11, 1911, in Sumter County in Florida.2 The Hawkins had seven children: Essie Mae (1913), Ada (1915) who passed away at the age of three, Willis (1919), Wilbur (1921), Hugh (1923), Cecil (1927), and Donald (1932).3 The family lived and worked on a farm in Istachatta, Hernando County, Florida. Willis completed grammar school and one year of high school before dropping out to work on the farm full-time, a path followed by his younger brother Wilbur.4
Sometime between May and October of 1940, Willis left his father’s farm and began to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps, Company 1421, based in Miami, Florida.5 The Civilian Conservation Corps was part of Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal;” a series of programs and legislations aimed to pull the United States out of the Great Depression. It was a Federal employment program that paid thousands of young unemployed men to work in land conservation and management. The Corps operated all over the US, living in camps and building roads, planting trees, fighting fires, and more.6 In Florida, the Corps reforested wastelands and build recreational facilities which became the first parks of the Florida State Parks System.7 Hawkins likely participated in this type of work. Then, in December 1940, he married Nell Audrey Watson.8
Military Service
Three years after his wedding, Hawkins was drafted into the Army and arrived at Camp Blanding, Florida, for training on October 20, 1943.9 After training, he became a private in the 3rd Reconnaissance Troop of the 3rd Infantry Division.10 The Army sent this division to participate in the Allied invasion of Italy, which began in July 1943 with an amphibious attack on Sicily. In January 1944, the division launched another landing at the harbor of Anzio and fought for four months against fierce Axis resistance to reach Rome, which was only about thirty miles inland.11 It is not clear if Hawkins finished his training quickly enough to participate in the Anzio campaign.
After the Allies successfully took Rome in May, the 3rd Division paused to train for its next mission: Operation Dragoon. The purpose of this operation was to assist in the Allied liberation of France by landing on France’s southern coast and pushing north and east into Germany. The 3rd Division landed at St. Tropez on August 15, 1944, and moved north, slowly pushing German troops back, town by town. By late fall, it reached the Vosges mountains in the North-East part of France, where the forests and mountainous terrain made combat even more difficult.12 From October 31 to November 3, the 3rd Division fought to capture the crossroads of Le Haut Jacques, a pass opening the access to the town of St. Dié-des-Vosges. The men of the 3rd Division later referred to this engagement as “The Crossroads of Hell” because the fighting there was “worse than any they had seen all during the beachhead siege and the drive to Rome.”13 During this battle, on November 2, 1944, Hawkins was killed in action.14
Legacy
Willis Hawkins was buried at the American Cemetery in Epinal, France, Plot A, Row 43, Grave 28. For his sacrifice, Hawkins was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart.15 He left behind his young wife, his parents, and his five remaining siblings. His father died in 1976, and his mother in 1987.16 A marker at Le Haut Jacques commemorates the hard combats the 3rd Division fought to gain control of this location, reminding passersby, still today, that 148 American men lost their lives; Pvt. Willis Hawkins was one of them.
1 “U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Willis Hawkins; “Florida Marriages,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23CD-HPJ: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Perry Hawkins and Eva Luttrell.
2 “Florida Marriages,” entry for Perry Hawkins and Eva Luttrell.
3 “1920 U.S. Census,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNY2-1KS: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Willis Hawkins; “1930 U.S. Census,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SRBG-5ZM: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Willis Hawkins. For Ada’s birth and death, see “Florida Deaths, 1877-1939,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FP9F-DMJ: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Ada Hawkins.
4 “1940 U.S. Census,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTHL-PSF: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Willis H. Hawkins.
5 “U.S., World War II Draft Cards.”
6 “CCC Brief History,” Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy (http://www.ccclegacy.org/CCC_Brief_History.html: accessed May 20, 2021).
7 “Florida and the CCC,” Trails and Travel (https://trailsandtravel.com/florida-and-the-ccc/: accessed May 20, 2021).
8 “Florida Marriages, 1830-1993,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V65Y-4DP: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Willis Hawkins and Nell Audrey Watson.
9 “World War II Army Enlistment Records,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Willis H. Hawkins.
10 “Headstone Inscription and Internment Record,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Willis H. Hawkins.
11 “3rd Infantry Division – Rock of the Marne,” US Army Divisions (https://www.armydivs.com/3rd-infantry-division: accessed May 20, 2021).
12 Ibid.
13 U.S. Army, History of the Third Infantry Division in World War II (Washington : Infantry Journal Press, 1947) 258, https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfTheThirdID/page/n285/mode/2up.
14 “Headstone Inscription and Internment Record.”
15 Ibid.
16 “Florida Death Index, 1877-1998,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VVQ5-627: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for James Perry Hawkins; “Florida Death Index, 1877-1998,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VVN5-9GC: accessed May 20, 2021), entry for Eva L. Hawkins.