William Thomas "W.T." Shroyer

PVT in 3132nd Signal Service Co

ASN#39684276

Born 1903 in IA, Died 1977

County of residence at enlistment: Kern County, CA

Other residence(s): Bear Grove Township (part of Guthrie Center), IA; Bakersfield, CA

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: semiskilled occupations in extraction of minerals, n.e.c.

Notes: rank per US headstone application for military veterans

Source: W. Anderson Notes; handwritten sonic roster; 3132 Pine Camp Photo Names

William Shroyer, frequently known as “W.T.,” was born on September 9, 1903 in Bear Grove Township, IA, part of Guthrie Center, IA. He was the middle of three sons; his father was a farmer.

W.T. received a grammar school education, and went to work on the farm. On June 20, 1923 he married Pauline Moore and they would go on to have a son, Jack in 1926.

In about 1933 he went to live in Bakersfield, CA, and embarked on a career as a bulldozer operator. It’s likely he had had experience with farm equipment that he was able to take advantage of. It seems unlikely that his wife and son went with him, and at some point he married again to a woman named Leota.

When W.T. registered for the draft, on February 16, 1942, he was working for Griffith Construction Company in Bakersfield. He enlisted that same year, on October 6, 1942. At some point he was assigned to the 3132 Signal Service Company.

His US headstone application for military veterans says he was discharged on March 5, 1943 but this seems unlikely since the 3132^nd had not yet been formed at that point.

After the war, notes by veteran Bill Anderson on a Ghost Army roster by Shoyer’s name in a May 1944 photo say: “Mysteriously disappeared in England; maybe a U.S. Secret Service agent?” So it is likely that he went to England with the unit that month. It also seems extremely unlikely that there was any mysterious or spy-oriented aspect to his disappearance; he may have been wounded or he may have been transferred to some other unit in the Army. It seems improbable that he just went AWOL, since he was given a proper military veteran headstone upon his death.

But, whatever the cause, by August of 1944 he was back in Bakersfield; on August 16, his wife, Leota, tried to shoot him. Objecting to his leaving the house with a friend, she went back in for a rifle and shot at her husband, wounding the friend instead. This prompted W.T. to run several personal ads in the local newspaper in subsequent days, stating that he would “not be responsible for any bills other than myself after August 17, 1944.”

How/why W.T. got from England in May to Bakersfield in August is unknown, as is the fate of Leota who was jailed after the shooting. The 1945 Bakersfield city directory still lists his job as “U.S. Army” and his wife as Leota. But by 1951, W.T. had married again, this time to a woman named Margaret.

During his years in Bakersfield he was a member of American Legion Post 26, the Operating Engineers Local (a category that includes heavy equipment operators), and the First Missionary Baptist Church.

Little else is known of his life or work. His obituary says that he was a heavy equipment operator for 42 years. Since he moved to Bakersfield in about 1933, and he retired in 1972, it is likely that this span included several years back in Iowa.

W.T. died on September 12, 1977 and is buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Bakersfield.