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billguarnere

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You Ain't Gotta Eat It

Created on 2009-06-24 04:42:18 (#20834915), last updated 2009-07-27

22 comments received, 569 comments posted

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7 Journal Entries, 5 Tags, 4 Memories, 0 Virtual Gifts, 78 Userpics

Basic Info

Name:	Bill Guarnere
Birthdate:	1922-04-28
Location:	United States
Website:	Hearts & Minds Wiki - Bill Guarnere

Bio

"Crazy Joe McKlosky was fucking nuts, Babe
that's why they called him Crazy Joe."

Basics

Name: William J Guarnere
Canon: Band of Brothers
Age: 21
Birthplace: South Philadelphia
Possessions: A pack of unfiltered Pall Mall cigarettes, rusted metal Zippo lighter, photo of girlfriend Frances Peca in a grass skirt, the family rosary (black painted metal beads with painted gold accents and a worn metal cross)

Company: Easy
Regiment: 506th Parachute Infantry
Division: 101st Airborne
Rank: Staff Sergeant, 2nd platoon mortar squad
Awarded: Purple Heart, Silver Star, and Presidential Unit Citation

Physical Description: At 5’6” and 145 lbs, Bill has the look of a true Italian Philly native. He's short, wiry, and full of piss and vinegar. He also has an under bite as well as the sharp facial features of an Italian. Always ready for a brawl whether friendly or not so, his ever-shifting hazel eyes take in everyone and everything. He keeps his short cropped black hair trimmed neat over his ears and up till a few months prior to his arrival at Haurvatat, kept his face clean shaven, the bitter and unforgiving winter spent in the forest surrounding Foy made having even the slightest trace of a beard, comfortable and almost necessary.

Personality: Bill is like any Philly boy in that his main concerns gravitate around his family, country and where he grew up. His short and wiry stature along with having to deal with six brothers, has made him prone to starting arguments, fist fights, and cursing wars in an attempt to prove himself time and time again, along with a "fuck you" attitude and a large chip on his shoulder. This mixture could and has gotten "Wild Bill" into trouble with ranking officers and peers alike, having seen his fair share of latrine duty and runs up Currahee. He uses excessively bad grammar, using his tongue and jaw to accentuate his Mid-Atlantic accent and lisp. Moderately foul mouthed, Bill basically says whatever he wants to whoever he wants to except (sometimes) in regards to higher ranking officers. To people not in his good graces or just newly acquainted, he can seem rather abrasive, racist, foul, and just downright nasty. The majority of the people who have actually gotten the guts up to fight fire with fire and get to know him, realize that deep down, Bill has a heart of gold and would go to any lengths to help any one of the men in Easy Company.

Why Haurvatat?

Bill’s hatred for the Germans started when he found out his eldest brother, Henry, was killed during the Italian Campaign at Monte Cassino. The months that followed proved that while Bill was more than capable of making decisions on the battlefield as the leader of the 506’s 2nd Battalion mortar squad, the personal injustice from losing one of his closest brothers was festering deep inside of him, blossoming into something brutal and terrifying. When he was hit during the Battle of the Bulge, losing his right leg, Bill was taken off the line. While being carried out on a stretcher, he lost consciousness and when he woke up, he was in Haurvatat, leg intact. Bill needs to learn the concept of inner peace, something he might have had a hold on before the war, but quickly lost soon after jumping on D-Day.

History

Bill was born in April of 1922 in South Philadelphia Pennsylvania, the youngest of ten children, to Augusta and Joseph Guarnere. Joseph worked from home as a full time tailor while Augusta raised the children. Being the youngest of ten, Bill learned early on in life how to use his age and status in the household as the baby to get what he wanted, often resorting to crying fits when he didn't get his way. While he got along with his sisters, the relationships forged with his brothers had materialized in the form of a ridiculously large amount of tough love, roughhousing and making each other's lives a living hell. His childhood, siblings, and the outlook on a poverty-stricken life where most of the time there wasn't enough food to go around, taught him how to take care of himself and toughen up along the way. It wasn't too many years down the road until he could hold his own against most of his brothers.

In 1937 during the Depression, the United States Government created a program called the Citizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) to help keep boys off the street and get them involved in something productive aka the Army. Augusta, wanting Bill to have the opportunity to be properly clothed, fed, and housed, signed her son up, telling the officials that Bill was seventeen when in reality he was only fifteen. Upon his acceptance into the program, Bill spent the next three summers in Maryland at Fort Meade, the program taking an average of four years to complete. Upon completion, Bill would've had the opportunity to enlist in the Army's officer training program. Sadly, the CMTC was canceled after his third year due to the pending war in Europe.

Six months from graduating high school, Pearl Harbor was attacked and shortly thereafter Bill had his heart set on dropping out and finding work at Baldwin Locomotive Works, making Sherman tanks for the Army. After being begged by his mother to be the first in their family to get a high school degree, Bill hung in there and graduated high school, still having the opportunity to get the job at Baldwin Locomotive that he had wanted.

In 1942, Bill decided to sign up for the Marines. At the recruiting station, he saw a large poster advertising a new division of the Army called the Paratroopers. Knowing that the mortality rate was high as well as the division untested (who'd be crazy enough to jump out of planes into enemy fire??), Bill's curiosity got the better of him (as well as the extra $50 a month), and signed up, figuring that having the "best of the best" fighting by his side and watching his back was his best bet for survival.

Less than a week later, Bill gave his longtime girlfriend, Frances Peca, an engagement ring, promising that when he came back from wherever he was going, that he’d make an honest woman out of her. In return, Frances gave Bill a picture of her wearing a grass skirt, which he keeps on him at all times. Later that year, he was shipped off to Camp Toombs in Georgia to take part in training with what would soon be called the aptly named Easy Company, where he would get the chance to jump into Normandy on D-Day and fight in World War II.

Disclaimer: I am not Frank John Hughes or Ssgt William Guarnere. This journal is for nonprofit use only and no way intended to disrespect both parties mentioned. History was taken from Wikipedia as well as the book Brothers In Battle Best of Friends

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Name: kir
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