PFC Tillman Howard Waller

courtesy of Kathleen Englebretson

PFC Tillman Howard Waller was born 30 Sep 1912 in Taylor, Wisconsin. He was the 5th of 8 children born to Henry and Amanda Petrine (Matson) Waller. His father supported the family by farming in Jackson County, Wisconsin. After he turned 18, Tillman decided to look elsewhere for work and found employment in Washington and Oregon in sawmills. In 1940 he was working for E. B. Miller in Corvallis, Oregon. 

When he was drafted in July 1942, Tillman was working in King County, Washington. After his basic military training he was sent to England and assigned to G Company 116th Infantry. He would have trained with the unit for the amphibious assault that was planned as part of the effort to liberate Nazi occupied France. He took part in the D-Day assault and managed to avoid injury until 2 Sep 1944 in Brest, France. Wounded by shell fragments in a foot, PFC Tillman was evacuated to hospital. He was not discharged until October and returned to G Company via the replacement depot on 16 Nov 1944. PFC Waller was then transferred to B Company 116th Infantry on 20 Nov 1944. PFC Waller was killed in action on 3 Dec 1944 in the vicinity of Koslar, Germany. 

PFC Waller was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in Riverside Cemetery in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. 

Brothers Walter Edwin Waller and Herman M. Waller also served in the U.S. Army during WW2.