A D-Day veteran native to Lynchburg has died at the age of 96.
Bill Sisk was a part of the 90th Division who joined the Army during his senior year at E.C. Glass High School, and landed on Utah Beach in Normandy shortly after D-Day.
He had visited veterans at the Support the Troops rally at Monument Terrace as recently as last week. According to a spokesperson with the National D-Day Memorial, Sisk died in his sleep Monday night.
Here is a tribute to Sisk from Vietnam veteran Steve Bozeman:
Last Friday we had a Purple Heart Ceremony and Bill Sisk ask his daughter, Martha Hackworth, to drive him and stopped at the curb of Monument Terrace. I spoke to him and quickly to a photo. He mentioned that he would love to have veterans come by and visit since he hasn’t been at Monument Terrace for over 15 months. He recently had pneumonia and lost 19 pounds. I made it a point the next day to visit him for just over an hour and had a great conversation about his service in Europe with the 90th Division. Bill landed at Normandy at age 17 (turned 18 on June 9th) on Juno Beach and the 90th marched across France into Germany. He earned the Purple Heart and was medi-evac to England. He recovered and sent back to his unit to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. He always wore his “Tough Hombres” hat when he joined us at Monument Terrace. Saturday he talked about coming to MT this Friday, but with the very hot weather predicted he said he would come the following Friday. I borrowed his book that was printed in 1946 about the 90th and the fame they earned and started reading it that night and finished it Sunday as it was so compelling of how they fought together. I was shocked when Martha called me Monday morning to say he died that night. I guess the good Lord took him home at age 96.