Wilbert W. Conover, affectionately known by his family as “Toe”, was born in Parkesburg, Pa. on September 8, 1917. He was the son of the late John and Anna Bunting Conover. The seventh child out of nine: Elva M., Earl G., Mary O., Elsie M., Mildred F. , Kenneth J., Wilbert W., Donald L. and Robert L.  “Toe” attended the Parkesburg School and the Par

kesburg Methodist Church. Parkesburg, with a population of 2500, was a booming steel town nestled in the rolling farmlands of Western Chester County. Most men in town, including Wilbert’s father, were employed by the Parkesburg Iron Company which manufactured “charcoal iron” boiler tubes for steam locomotives. The company closed its doors in 1926 unable to diversify when new government regulations required boiler tubes to be replaced by less expensive manufactured steel tubes. The plant’s closure; however, was not devastating for many of the workers soon found employment at Lukens Steel Company eight miles down the road in Coatesville.

   Toe, like his father and brothers, began his steel making career at Lukens on February  3, 1939. He was married the following year to Jean E. Thompson and was employed as crane operator until March 29, 1943. He entered the service on April 8, 1943 at New Cumberland and arrived at Fort McClellan (Army Infantry Replacement Training Center) located in Anniston, Alabama on April 17^th for basic training. From Fort McClellan he was transferred to Fort George G. Meade, MD arriving there on May 13, 1944 and by May 22, he was at Camp Shanks. On June 19th he boarded the troopship Louis Pasteur and landed in Scotland on June 29, 1944.

           Sent into France as a replacement, he was assigned to I Company, 120^th Infantry Regiment, 30^th Infantry Division. The 30^th Inf. Division, nicknamed “Old Hickory” spearheaded the all-important breakthrough south of St. Lo, France; however, some of the heaviest fighting remained to be accomplished by the 30^th when they alone stopped one of the German Army’s major counter attacks in the Mortain -St. Barthelmy sector of France. German troops nicknamed the 30^th, “Roosevelt’s SS”.  Historians would later call the Division the Workhorse of the Western Front.

           The recorded events of his personal combat life in Europe are sketchy but by July 12 of 1944 he had received the Combat Infantry Badge which translated into a $10.00 a month raise in Army pay. He was promoted to Staff Sergeant on November 6, 1944, wounded on Nov. 9, 1944 and hospitalized with shrapnel and burns to his leg. After he was released from the hospital he returned to his unit on December 3, 1944 at Kerkrade, Holland. In a censored “V Mail” letter home dated December 1944 he mentioned about being “somewhere in Holland” and jokingly added he wished it had the word “New” in front of his present location. He continued, “Living in these foxholes each day and night with the sky as our blanket isn’t like home but, most all of us are willing to sacrifice a little to bring this war to an end …”

     On December 16, 1944, achieving total surprise, Hitler unleashed his last full scale offensive (known as The Battle of The Bulge) with three German Armies totaling over a half a million men, attacking US forces in the Ardennes region of Belguim and Luxembourg.  On Dec. 17^th the entire 120^th regiment was alerted and was soon transported to the front just north of Malmedy. December 28^th he wrote …” We did not have turkey on Christmas day but made up for it yesterday. Christmas we were dug in fox hole positions with only K and C rations. The war took some what of a turn making things look some what in favor of the Jerries. At the present we are giving them all they want so maybe with good weather we can end it all by Spring. Let’s hope.”

     On the morning of January 3, 1945 S/Sgt Conover lead his squad into a wooded sector. The day was foggy and new snow was falling making visibility difficult. Suddenly, small arms fire opened up on the men and Wilbert went down. According to his comrade’s letter, “… he had a smile upon his face. He started crawling back and the Company Commander and another one of his buddies went out to help him. They were fired upon again and he and his friend were hit. This second wound did the most harm”.  Within minutes they got him back to the 47^th Field Hospital where he died a few hours later.

His body was buried the next day at the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery, Belgium.

      His wife received a telegram 19 days later which stated he had been seriously wounded. The following day, the same delivery boy knocked at the door with his head down and handed Jean another telegram notifying her of his death. He was 27 years old.

Upon hearing of his brother’s death, Wilbert's younger brother Don, a GI in the US First Division, requested to be transferred into a frontline combat unit to seek revenge while brother Bob was headed for the Pacific Theater as a P-38 pilot. Memorial services were held at the Parkesburg Methodist Church on February 18, 1945.

     The cemetery in Belgium where Toe was buried was to be moved to a permanent site and families were given the choice to have the remains shipped home or interred in the new American cemetery overseas. On November 21, 1947 his remains were buried with military honors at Fairview Cemetery, Coatesville, Pa.

     Jean told me years later that she was not able to move on until after his body was brought back home. Eventually, she remarried a wonderful guy, from Coatesville, also a veteran of the Battle of The Bulge.

    Toe wrote home the day before he was killed, “There is not much news but, I am doing swell. Things are a little tough but, with God’s protection I know I will see it thru. Give my love to all and God bless each and everyone of you.”  I think He has. Thank you.