William J Gossett Sr

Pvt William Gossett, Sr was killed in action on 06 June 1944, serving with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment. On the morning of June 6, 1944, the company left the transport ship Empire Anvil before dawn and set out for Omaha Beach in six landing craft, only to have the boats mistakenly veer toward the beach near Port-en-Bessin before the error was caught and corrected. Two of the craft swamped and sank during this detour, forcing their men to be pulled from the water by a patrol boat and diverted to another ship, delaying their landing by hours. When the remaining boats finally touched shore around 0800, they came under direct machine-gun and artillery fire and struck mines, inflicting heavy casualties among the command group and flanking sections; survivors reached the beach, treated the wounded, and formed a defensive line above the sea wall. Under the company commander's leadership, remnants of the unit joined with men from neighboring companies to reach the day's objective inland, where they dug in overnight, fought off resistance with the help of newly arrived tanks, and sent out patrols the next morning that pushed toward Port-en-Bessin and Huppain, capturing prisoners and enemy vehicles in the process. Pvt Gossett was killed in action that day; the report does not specify the individual circumstances.