1st Lt. Arthur R. Wagner

Biography and Wartime Service

Arthur R. "Stir" Wagner was born on January 21, 1919 to the late Arthur C. and Mary Clare (Bowe) Wagner in Edgar, Wisconsin. He grew up in the Neillsville area and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison following graduation from high school. On April 14, 1941, he married Dolores Scott in Louisiana just prior to his deployment to the European conflict.

For 35 years he proudly served his country in the U.S. Army. From 1940-1946, he participating in 5 European Campaigns, Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe, with the 83rd Infantry "Thunderbolt" Division and was assigned as the S-4 (logistics officer) of the 329th Infantry Regiment. From 1961 to 1962, he served during the Berlin Crisis.

Willy The Goat

This picture is featured in the book 'Hölle im Hürtgenwald' which I bought a few years ago. This interesting picture of a 329th Regiment officer was quickly identified by the late Stan Bielen as 1st Lieutenant Arthur Wagner. He had planned for West Point to be his final reunion but decided to come to Nashville after this story of his picture with the goat. After meeting Mr. Wagner at the 2012 Reunion of the 83rd Infantry Division Association he explained why they had the goat with them. "He could hear the mortar shells coming in which we couldn't hear" he said "if we saw him running we knew we needed to dive into the nearest foxhole". Sadly Willy was Killed in Action not long after this picture was taken when the jeep he was driving in was knocked of the road by a german gun.

After the War, Arthur Wagner was the co-owner of Wagner's Lanes in Eau Claire with his brothers, Chet and Kenneth, from 1949 until his retirement in 2003. During that time Wagner's was voted into the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame. Arthur was an active member of the Knights of Columbus, the Elk and Moose Lodges, and the Eau Claire Tavern League. He married his second wife, Mary Ann Hahn, on December 27, 1983. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Army National Guard Hall of Honor in 2006.

Arthur Wagner, age 95, of Eau Claire passed away on Thursday, August 14, 2014 at St. Joseph's Hospital in Chippewa Falls with family by his side. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Dolores in 1976. Both are buried at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin.

Gallery

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