Sergeant Jenkins was a member of Headquarters Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action while fighting the enemy in North Korea on November 29, 1950. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. Sergeant Jenkins was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantrymans Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, January 16, 1951
Last Nov. 24, Sgt. William C. Jenkins wrote his bride of 11 months, “I’ll be home for Christmas.” Five days later he was killed in action in Korea. Mrs. Nettie French Jenkins, of Route 8, heard the first word of her husband’s death through a buddy of his, who wrote her saying he’d heard of Sgt. Jenkins’ death. This week, she received official notification through the Defense Department.
Sgt. And Mrs. Jenkins had really counted on the Christmas together. They were married Dec. 9, 1949, and he was sent to Japan Jan. 11, 1950. Previously, he had served three years in Japan as a member of the 31st Infantry, 7th Division. The couple went to Carter High School together. Sgt. Jenkins worked in a doughnut factory before he joined the Army. The 21-year-old soldier was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jenkins of Route 8. He also leaves a sister, Norma Jenkins, 9, and a grandfather, J.W. Hope of Cleveland, O. He was in two amphibious landings and helped in the capture of Seoul.
The Knoxville Journal, May 10, 1951
During three years in Japan, a close friendship sprang up between Sgt William C. Jenkins (left) 21, of Route 8, Knoxville and Cpl. William R. Snyder, Chrevecouer, Ill., a friendship which was severed only by the heroic death of Sergeant Jenkins during the initial Chinese Communist attack at Chosin Reservoir, Korea, Last Nov. 29. Corporal Snyder, coming home on a 30-day leave from Korea, wrote Mrs. Fred Jenkins, mother of the late serviceman, telling her he hoped to visit her during his stay in the US.
- Rank: Sergeant
- Date of birth: 6 September 1929
- Date of death: 29 November 1950
- County: Knox
- Hometown: Knoxville
- Service Branch: Army
- Division/Assignment: 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division
- Conflict: Korean War
- Awards: Purple Heart, Combat Infantrymans Badge, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and Republic of Korea War Service Medal
- Burial/Memorial Location: Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XXI, Top Panel
- Contact us to sponsor William C. Jenkins
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