Wilbert Upton

SUN PRAIRIE - Wilbert H. Upton, age 93, of Sun Prairie, and formerly of Park Ridge, N.J., died peacefully on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, at HospiceCare in Fitchburg, WI. Wilbert (Wil) was born in Tilson, NY in 1917 on his grandparent's farm. He had to quit High School to help support his family when his Dad became ill. He worked in the fields, in a mushroom mine, mapped out & built roads during Roosevelt's Work Program. He even drove moonshine thru the woods of upstate NY at night for the guys who ran the stills. Wilbert moved to Madison with his wife, Anna, in 1995 to be near their son, Robert, of Windsor. Wilbert was united in marriage to Anna Stocker in Bethpage, Long Island, N.Y. on Feb. 19, 1949. Wil joined the Army prior to WWII and served with the Ist Division (the Big Red One). Wilbert, a WWII vet, participated in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy with the 1st Division. He landed in the invasion of North Africa and the French Foreign Legion would not let the Allies pass thru so the Allies had to surround them and give them an ultimatum to surrender to save their honor. When they surrendered they then joined the Allies in the fight against the Germans.
He saw the tank battles between Rommel's forces and the Allied forces. When Wil landed in the invasion of Sicily, unknown to the Allies, a German Panzer division was performing maneuvers near the beach, so when the LSTs hit the beach they had to bore-sight the howitzers at the tanks and fire at them to fight their way onto the beach.
Wil was involved in recon behind enemy lines to radio back their positions. They last time he was going to go out another team took their place in the mountains and that night that team was wiped out by the Germans. Dad narrowly missed being killed. Dad also landed with the British at the invasion of Normandy.
They did not want miscommunication between the Americans and the British/Canadians, so he landed with the British wearing a British uniform. His LST was hit and he had to swim to shore - like in Saving Private Ryan. Dad says the sound of the hot bullets hitting in the water all around him sounded the same as in the movie.
Will swam back out and retrieved the radio equipment and then had to swim back in to the beach under the heavy fire. It is a miracle that he survived. Around the time that his unit was involved in repelling the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge, he had to return to the states because his wife, Charlotte, was seriously ill with Tuberculosis. By this time after all the action he saw and the invasions he was involved in he was getting a bit shell-shocked and needed the break anyway.
After the War, he became an engineer with the Bendix Corporation in NJ, and worked on the guidance systems for NASA's Apollo Space program. He helped put the first men on the moon and received a medallion that was made from a silver bar that was taken to the moon and back. He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Charlotte Wood of Marshfield, Mass., his second wife, Anna of Howard Beach N.Y., and his youngest son John Upton. He is survived by his son, Robert; daughter-in-law, Janet; granddaughter, Lori and her husband Nick Rizzolo. Visitation will be held at the Cress Funeral Home in Sun Prairie, on Saturday, June 25, 2011 @ 9:00am. Memorial services will follow at the EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Sun Prairie, at 10:30am. Wilbert's ashes will be interred at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery in Waunakee with Honor Guard immediately after church services.