Dukeman Jr, William Heister “Buddy”.

Dukeman Jr, William Heister “Buddy”, born 9-3-1921, in Strasburg / Colorado, at the Living Springs Ranch. His father was William Heister Dukeman Sr. and his mother was Gertrude, born Nordow.  He had three brothers, Harry, Charles and Clem. William also had one sister, Mildred. He was nicknamed “Bud” to distinguish him from his father William Sr. His mother said he was born in 1922 instead of 1921.

Bud went to school in Strasburg until his family moved to Keenesburg, Colorado in 1929. He graduated from high school in 1929. After graduating, he traveled with his best friend Everett Gray and two friends to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they found work. He and Gray decided they would earn more, 50 Dollar, if they joined the military. They did this and enrolled in the 101 Airborne Division.

He trained with the 506th Regiment “Easy Company at Camp Taccoa under Captain Herbert Sobel.   Sobel, not beloved by his men, “Band of Brothers” returned to the United States in 1945, and was honorably discharged from the Army on 18-03-1946. He worked as an accountant before being recalled to active duty during the Korean War. He remained in the Army National Guard, eventually retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel. He later married and had three children.

In 1970, Sobel shot himself in the head with a small-caliber pistol in an attempted suicide. The bullet entered his left temple, passed behind his eyes, and exited the other side of his head. This severed his optic nerves and left him blind. Soon afterward, he began living at a VA assisted-living facility in Waukegan, Illinois. He died there of malnutrition on 30-09-1987, age 75..No memorial services were held for him

There Dukeman became good friends with John W “Johnny” Martin,

Frank Perconte and Albert “Al” Blithe . Johnny Martin survived the war and died 25-01-2005, age 82, in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, Frank Perconte also survived the war and died 24-10-2013, age 96, in Joliet, Will County, Illinois, After training as a paratrooper, completing practice jumps, he and the others were sent to Camp Mackall to complete basic training. They were sent abroad to a training camp in Aldbourne, England. Here they received more basic training. William Dukeman was dropped on D-Day

and got separated from Easy Company. He was injured in the chin when hit by hostile fire. He took part in the battle of Caretan. During this battle Easy Company took the village. He also took part in the “battle at Bloody Gulch”, which he survived. Dukeman later took part in Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, liberated the webmaster’s hometown Eindhoven and he also took part in the battle for Nuenen, now under command of Major Richard “Dick” Winters.

Death and burial ground of Dukeman Jr. William Heister “Buddy”,

    

During a night patrol at a cruising in the Netherlands, Dukeman, age 23, was killed by a group of Germans in a passage under the dike road.  A rifle grenade was fired at him. The next day Easy Company defeated two German SS companies at that spot.

Bud Dukeman is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery, Plot G, Row 2, Grave 11, Margraten, Netherlands.

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