William G. “Bill” Presnell

“Our father died before my brother, my sister, and I understood the significance of the war and his role in it. In 2014, using his journal, maps and photographs as our guide, we retraced his steps from Omaha Beach to the Elbe River. Along the way, we met with historians and others, whose first-hand accounts brought the war to life for us. On our last day, our guide, whose father had been a soldier in the German army in 1945, took us to the exact spot on the Elbe River in Magdeburg, Germany, where the photograph displayed here was taken — with the hill, the bridge and the highway still in the background. We have no doubt that our father stood with us when we snapped a new photograph.”

– Barbara Presnell, University Writing Program

William G. “Bill” Presnell, remembered by his daughter, Barbara Presnell

Mill worker turned soldier Bill Presnell fought in Europe and photographically chronicled his infantry company’s movements.

My father, William G. “Bill” Presnell, was a young mill worker when he signed up for the Army National Guard in early 1941. Three years later, as a first sergeant in the 30th Infantry Division, he set sail for Europe and the French coast. He landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day plus six. In the months that followed, he fought through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and into Germany. There, on April 25, 1945, he joined other American soldiers who crossed the Elbe River in Magdeburg to shake hands with Russian soldiers, signifying the beginning of the end of war.

In this photograph, the stub of a celebratory cigar is visible in his left hand along with the camera that he carried with him everywhere, around his neck. As a first sergeant, his job was to keep records of his company’s movements. His collection of artifacts includes more than 3,000 photographs, maps, a journal of daily operations, rosters of men in his company, newspaper clippings from the Stars and Stripes and the Courier-Tribune, the hometown newspaper, and more.