Polk County

 

William Jesse Wright

 

William Jesse Wright was born May 29, 1919 to Warren Sanford and Mary Lucille Fisher Wright. He died Oct. 24, 1944 and is memorialized at the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines and in Glendale Cemetery, Des Moines, IA.

Petty Officer Wright served in World War II with the U.S. Navy and was MIA/POW and died as a POW when the Japanese freighter he was being transported on was torpedoed and sunk off Shoonan, Eastern coast of China. He was awarded the Purple Heart.

Source: ancestry.com