William J. Kavaleski

Waltham – Mr. William J. Kavaleski, Jr. of Waltham died Thursday, July 7, 2011 in his home. He was 96.

Bill was born in Waltham on July 4, 1915, a son of the late William J. and Ethel H. (Gorka) Kavaleski and had been a lifelong resident. Until his retirement he worked as a superintendent for the Waltham Housing Authority and in later years worked at the Waltham Savings Bank. He was a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2152 in Waltham.

He was drafted into the United States Army in March, 1941 and served with an engineering battalion when the country entered World War II nine months later. He was later assigned to the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 9th Armored Division. It was with this unit that Bill found himself fighting his way from Normandy, France in June, 1944 to the town of Remagen, Germany on March 7, 1945. Having survived the harsh winter of 1944/45, the infamous Battle of the Bulge and the Rhineland campaign, the 27th Armored was tasked with being part of the force to capture the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. Its significance to the war effort will remain forever in the history books because it overcame the last important geographic obstacle, crossing the Rhine River, for the Allied push to Berlin in the spring of 1945.

Bill was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he received on the ‘Bridge at Remagen’ on March 7, 1945 and was returned to England to recover. That day he and others in his unit raced onto the bridge, literally following German tanks and soldiers escaping to the safe haven of the west bank. The bridge was the last left standing as Hitler had ordered the destruction of all crossings into Germany in early March.

American troops began their assault at 3:15 that Wednesday afternoon while learning that German engineers had rigged the bridge supports to explode forty-five minutes later. It was during this pulse racing, heart pounding environment that American engineers rushed to cut dynamite wires beneath the bridge and American soldiers, including Bill, fought their way across firing at the German defenders. More than 8,000 Americans, together with tanks and equipment, crossed the bridge into Germany within twenty-four hours of its capture clearing the way for Allied victory in Europe that came two months later.

The husband of the late Helen T. (Shaughnessy) Kavaleski, he leaves his sister, Mary E. Foley of Imperial Beach, California; his sisters-in-law, Helen Kavaleski, Eleanor Kavaleski, and Doris Shaughnessy all of Waltham and many nieces and nephews.

Bill was also a brother of the late John J. Kavaleski and Fred T. Kavaleski.

Family and friends will honor and remember Bill’s life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Monday, July 11th, from 4 to 7 p.m. and again at 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Mary’s Church, 133 School Street, Waltham, where his Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, Waltham.