William John Dougherty, Jr.

William Jr. was the first son of William and Mary Dougherty after their daughter was born 17 months earlier. Lavinia was named after Mary’s sister. They were living in the Grays Ferry section of Philadelphia where William Sr was a pipefitter before becoming a truck driver. Two more children, James and Edward were born in 1921 and 1924, respectively. 

Each of them were baptized at Chambers-Wylie Memorial Presbyterian Church where their parents were members. Built in 1902 with partial funding by department store owner John Wanamaker, the church was born from the merger of two congregations named after former pastors. The Gothic Revival building remains today as Broad Street Ministry, its limestone legacy in the heart of the Avenue of the Arts.

High school didn’t appeal to William so he went to work after 8th grade. By the time he  registered for the draft in 1940 he was a big man, at 6’2” tall and weighing 202 pounds. He was working as a machine operator at Federal Container Corporation and engaged to Eleanor Richards. They married on June 14, 1941 and had a daughter, Eileen Marie in 1942.

William’s draft board sent him a letter in late 1943, inducting him into the Army on December 11. He served in Company E, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. The 22nd assaulted Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944 and moved south into France and east into Belgium. By mid-September, they broke through the Siegfried Line in Germany.

It was on the enemy’s home turf that Pvt. Dougherty died two months later. His remains were brought home and reburied here on July 31, 1948. As with all who were killed in action during World War II, he was awarded the Purple Heart medal posthumously. (Another member of the 22nd who was killed in action is buried here at Mount Moriah. Pvt. Thomas Simon died nine days after D-Day in Normandy.)

His father was able to witness his son’s funeral, but just three months later he died of lung cancer. The gravestone for William Sr. and his wife sit beside William Jr.’s military marker. His brother Edward became a Army Sergeant during the war, but James was the only other family member buried here at Mount Moriah.