PFC Billy Festus Snider (WWII)

Remembering PFC Billy Festus Snider (Monongah/Fairmont)

April 8, 1925 - June 1, 1944

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PFC Billy Festus Snider (Service #35758283) was born April 8, 1925 in Monongah, WV, the son of Lawrence Alden and Jennie (Gandy) Snider. Billy was the 7th child of 9: four girls and five boys. Lawrence was an Army Veteran, enlisting in the artillery at age 21 in 1904 and discharging in December of 1907 (US Army Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914).

According to the 1930 census, their family lived at 25 Main Street in Monongah, where Lawrence was an electrician in the coal mines. Between 1930 and 1935, their family moved to Fairmont, where they lived at 3 Plaza Place (1940 census). Lawrence was a machinist in the coal mines.

Billy attended Fairmont Senior High School for three years, dropping out before senior year to enlist in the military. The 1943 Maple Leaves yearbook said of Billy, "Billy, one of our sport juniors has the 'great' ambition 'to work.' His hobbies are dancing, swimming, and skating, all of which he does very, very well. His activities include study halls."

Billy registered for the draft on April 8, 1943- his 18th birthday. The draft card records him as being employed at the Virginia Theatre, and that he was 6'2" and 155 lbs, with green eyes and brown hair.

Army enlistment records show that he enlisted on July 19, 1943 in Clarksburg, WV, just short of his senior year of high school.

Military Service:

According to his Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF), Billy was serving in the 143rd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion at the time of his death. The 143rd entered Italy in September of 1943 in the Amalfi area, helping US Rangers (Invasion of Italy, Texas Military Forces Museum). Major General Fred K. Walker, who at the time was Commanding General of the 36th Infantry Division, said of the winter battles: "I do not recall any campaign in the whole history of the United States Army in which soldiers have had to endure greater hardships or have performed greater deeds of heroism than this campaign in Italy" (Invasion of Italy). They continued to fight their way across Italy through June of 1944. 

36th Infantry Division Morning Reports, as digitized by the 36th Division Archive, note the following for the 143rd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion.

26 May 1944- Vicinity of Cisterna, Italy

It was in Vic Vellettri, Italy that Billy was wounded in action by a gunshot wound to the right side of his abdomen (IDPF). He died of his wounds on June 1, 1944, and was interred at the United States Military Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy.

Legacy:

PFC Billy Festus Snider was awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster for his service. He was reinterred in 1948 at the Shinnston Memorial Cemetery in Harrison County, WV, alongside his parents and several siblings.

Billy's younger brothers, SGT Jack Snider (Army) and SKSN Richard Snider (Navy) both went on to serve in the military- Jack in WWII and Richard in Korea.

Sources and More Information:

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