William Charles Worthington, Jr.

William Jr was called Billy and his father was Willie, an 18-year-old man who had just married 15-year-old Florence Cole a month after Billy was born. Both parents grew up in the segregated part of West Chester, the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and that’s where Billy and his younger brother were raised. 

Willie drove a truck for a building contractor, according to the 1930 census. The family lived with his mother-in-law in the same block as some other Cole families. But the Great Depression took its toll on the family;  by 1935 Willie was gone and Florence and the two boys moved in with her aunt. Florence got a job as a mushroom cutter in a cannery. (The southern part of Chester County produces half of the nation’s mushroom crop.)

Billy registered for the draft when he turned 18 in late 1942. At that time he was living in Philadelphia, but he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves on July 2, 1943. Less than two weeks later he was called to active duty and reported for basic training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 

He rose to Private 1st Class and got an assignment close to home, the Marine Corps Depot of Supplies in Philadelphia. It was located behind the Naval Home and next to the South Street Bridge over the Schuylkill River. The six-story warehouse had just been completed in 1943, and Billy worked there for about six months doing manual labor. 

Billy noticed he was having headaches and fevers and it began to affect his work. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital on June 9, but died 11 days later. He had contracted tuberculous meningitis, where the bacteria that cause tuberculosis spread to the brain and spinal cord. 

Burial took place here in the Naval Plot. His mother and brother lived the rest of their lives in West Chester.