U.S. Army 146th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Division H3
William died on 30 July 1918 and is buried at Plot B Row 2 Grave 19, Aisne-Marne American Cemetery Belleau, France.
William Frances Pittinger was born on 29 April 1895 in Hitchcock County, NE. He came to Powell in March of 1917 and was employed here by local homesteaders before joining Company C on 25 July 1917. He attended training at Camp Green NC., Camp Mills NY. and Camp Merritt, NJ. While in NJ. he was taken ill and hospitalized. He later joined Battery D, 146th Field Artillery in France in April of 1918. He was hit by a piece of shrapnel on 27 July 1918, which was not fatal. But in the ambulance to the hospital, he was gassed. Gas infection set in and he died three days later. He had been on the front 18 days and was the first of the Powell boys to die.
