WILLIAM L. SUKEFORTH WW2, KILLED IN FRANCE

REMEMBER THE FALLEN

....................WILLIAM L. SUKEFORTH WW2 KILLED IN FRANCE
.....................BY BOB LESSARD
.....................Historian Post 64 American Legion

.......(Periodically, the Gazette will publish biographical sketches of Middleboro’s war casualties. This is intended to remember the sacrifices of all veterans and those who gave their lives to our country. A slogan which truly reflects thoughts about veterans states: “ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL.”)

.......United States Army Private William L. Sukeforth was Killed In Action in France on November 30, 1944, according to his wife Ruth E. (Dunklee). She received word of his death from the government on the day after Christmas, December 26.

.......William was 36 years old when he died and was the father of two children, a son and daughter, William, Jr., and Sally L.

.......His family reported that he was born on October 21, 1908 at their home at 36 Cook Street in Bridgewater to Ernest L. and Jose Sukeforth. Because his father worked for the Bridgewater

.......State Farm, William was delivered by the prison doctor.
Later, the family moved to 918 Centre Street in Middleboro when Ernest acquired work at the George E. Keith Shoe Factory.

.......Private Sukeforth was educated in the Middleboro school system: West Side School; Bates School; and graduated from Memorial High School. As a youth he was a delivery boy for Charlie Englestead’s grocery store on West Street.

.......According to a Gazette article, William and his father opened Sukeforth’s Esso Service Station in Everett Square in 1933. (Editor’s Note: “Town officials on May 30, 1929, changed the name of Everett Square to John F. Glass, Jr., Square. But for some reason the dedicated name change has never stuck.)The pair operated the station for a reported 10 years until William was inducted into the Army on December 17, 1943.

......At age 35, with a wife and two children, he was shipped to Camp Blanding in Florida for his initial training. Subsequently, he was sent overseas, where he was assigned to General Patch’s 7th Army, Company L, 146th Infantry, 36th Division.
It was reported that he was killed by machine gun fire while crossing a river near Kintzheim in Southern France. His body was returned home to Middleboro and he was buried with full military honors in Central Cemetery.

......William L. Sukeforth is remembered by the bridge in his name at Vernon Street over 495. The bridge was dedicated in his memory by a Massachusett’s State Legislative Act in 1966. His name is also engraved on the Central Casualty stone in the WW2 section at Middleboro’s Veterans Memorial Park.

......Middleboro’s now defunct William L. Sukeforth Disabled American Veterans’ Chapter 36 was named in his memory. The local group met in a building on East Grove Street across from Apazidis Restaurant, which had been donated to them by the Fall Brook Mothers Club

...... The Chapter had become somewhat inactive for about 10 years. State D.A.V. officials called for a membership meeting to pull Middleboro’s charter. Chapter 36 was disbanded and the building was sold.

......Proceeds from the sale of the building was incorporated into a “merger” with the Taunton D.A.V. group. That money from the sale enabled the Taunton group to purchase the old Masons’ building at 5-7 Taunton Green. The remaining William L. Sukeforth membership was then combined with the Corporal William F. Reardon Chapter 57 in Taunton several years ago.

......Gazette readers are reminded that bricks are still available for placement in the Middleboro Veterans Memorial Park. They are a nice tribute to remember our veterans.
Brick applications are available by calling Paul Krietzberg at 508-965-9549. Also, application forms are available at the brick locator box at the Memorial Park; in the lobby of the Town Hall Bank building; at the Oak Point pool room and at the office of Middleboro’s Veterans Service Officer Jason Cox.