William Busier
Bill Busier, 1942
William Busier was born in Shelburne in 1918. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934 and the National Guard on December 20, 1940. He was a member of the 43rd Division, 172nd Infantry Medical Detachment and served in the South Pacific. He was on board the USS Coolidge when it sank in Espiritu Santo and received a Soldier's Medal for heroism at sea.
Bill Busier, 2004
He was later reassigned to the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia and shipped to Europe in August 1944 with the 106th Infantry Division, 423rd Infantry K Company as a Rifle Platoon Sergeant. He was captured on December 19 and imprisoned at Stalag IXA in Ziegenhine, Germany, until his liberation on April 6, 1945. He was 26 at the time of capture and held the rank of Tech Sergeant.
William Busier returned from Europe on April 24, 1945 and was discharged from the army on July 16. On returning to civilian life he worked first for Sealtest Ice Cream and later for an air conditioning and refrigeration company. He then established his own business, Vermont Heating and Refrigeration. William and his wife Marjorie live in Essex Junction and have one daughter. He is 86.
"I got my book, my squad-my platoon book. I still have that. And I was looking up, you know, all the names in there and I got the whole list of the rifle numbers that they were signed up for, and in that, of course, I had a space and I was writing that down. Addresses of fellows there. And, also, recipes that different ones would know about or come up with. And, really, our whole thing was food, was really food." -- Bill Busier interview 10/24/2003
