Mahogany Executive Series

Signature Series Limited Model

*  Hand Signed by William Guarnere!

William J. Guarnere Sr. (April 28, 1923 – March 8, 2014) was a United States Army soldier who fought in World War II as a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division.

Info: C-47 BAND OF BROTHERS WILLIAM GUARNERE 1/62

Historical:  Guarnere was wounded in mid-October 1944, while Easy Company was securing the line on "The Island" on the south side of the Rhine. As the sergeant of Second Platoon, he had to go up and down the line to check on and encourage his men, who were spread out over a distance of about a mile. While driving a motorcycle that he had stolen from a Dutch farmer across an open field, he was shot in the right leg by a sniper. The impact knocked him off the motorcycle, fractured his right tibia, and lodged some shrapnel in his right buttock. He was sent back to England on 17 October.

While recovering from injuries, Guarnere did not want to be assigned to another unit, so he put black shoe polish all over his cast, put his pants leg over the cast, and walked out of the hospital in severe pain. He was caught by an officer, court-martialed, demoted to private, and returned to the hospital. He told them he would just go AWOL again to rejoin Easy Company. The hospital kept him a week longer and then transferred him back to his unit.

Guarnere arrived at Mourmelon-le-Grand, just outside Reims, where the 101st was on R and R (rest and recuperation), about 10 December, just before the company was sent to the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, on December 16. Because the paperwork did not arrive from England about his court-martial and demotion, he was reinstated in his same position.

While holding the line, just up the hill southwest of Foy, a massive artillery barrage hit the men in their position. Guarnere lost his right leg in the incoming barrage, while trying to drag his friend Joe Toye (who had also lost his right leg) to safety. This injury ended Guarnere's participation in the war.

Guarnere received the Silver Star for combat during the Brecourt Manor Assault on D-Day, and was later decorated with three Bronze Star Medals and two Purple Hearts, making him one of only two Easy Company members (the other being Lynn Compton) to be awarded the Silver Star throughout the duration of the war while a member of Easy Company.