First Class Privates

Watson, William C., Jr.

Published by Privately printed, n.p., 1994

About this Item

viii, 256 pages. Illustrations. Appendix. References. The dust jacket has some wear, soiling and small edge tears. This copy has an author inscription on the fep and sentiment that reads "I am pleased to share my WWII story with a friend and co-worker with all Kids Count. Best Wishes Bill Watson". This work was written as a personal memoir for his family. The number of copies printed is not currently known, but can be assumed to have been somewhat limited. Stalag IV-B was one of the largest prisoner-of-war camps in Germany during World War II. Stalag is an abbreviation of the German Stammlager ("Main Camp"). It was located 5.0 miles north-east of the town of Mühlberg in the Prussian Province of Saxony, just east of the Elbe river and about 30 miles north of Dresden. From 1944 to 1945 it belonged to the Province of Halle-Merseburg. The Soviet Army arrived at the camp in April 1945. The Soviet liberators held the British and American prisoners in the camp for over a month. The division had spent 163 days in combat. The division took 13,351 enemy prisoners of war on its own.[18] Members of the division won three Medals of Honor, seven Distinguished Service Crosses, five Legions of Merit, 492 Silver Star Medals, 23 Soldier's Medals, 5,156 Bronze Star Medals, and 90 Air Medals. The division itself was awarded three campaign streamers for participation in the campaign. The author was one of 491 members of the Division officially listed as Prisoners of War. 100th Infantry Division returned to the United States on 10 January 1946, and was inactivated on 26 January. Mr. Watson graduated Latta High School with honors and attended the Citadel until World War II. He tested into the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) which sent him to Georgia Tech before he deployed to the German Front with the Army Infantry, 100th Division, 398th Company A. He served as a mortarman and was captured and detained as a POW at Stalag IV B for the final 6 Months of the war. He chronicled in great detail the story of his military service in his personal memoir entitled, "First Class Privates". The Army awarded him 3 Campaign ribbons, a Bronze Star and a POW medal. Mr. Watson finished his education at the University of South Carolina-Cum Laude in 1948. The Public Health Service recruited him in 1948 where he began what turned out to be a very long and illustrious career in public health. He started out as one of the original Public Health Advisors in the Venereal Disease investigation and moved from there to the organization that became the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) and later the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During his time as Executive Officer of CDC, he obtained his Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1964. He was promoted to Assistant Director in 1970. In 1976 he was promoted to Deputy Director then served under 4 different Directors until his retirement in 1984. Upon his retirement the CDC Medal of Excellence was renamed the William C. Watson, Jr. Medal of Excellence in his honor. The Medal is given each year to recognize outstanding professionals and is endowed by the CDC Foundation which he helped to found. In 1985 the Public Health Advisors formed the Watsonian Society in his honor. Bill served as the Director of Operations for the Carter Center from 1986 - 1992. Bill was elected an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1999.

Seller Inventory # 88905

Bibliographic Details

• Title: First Class Privates
• Publisher: Privately printed, n.p.
• Publication Date: 1994
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition, First Printing.
• Condition: Very good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Selective Service