Willard “Bud” Jenkins was born on February 25, 1917, in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. He attended two years of high school and worked as a roofer or slater. He was Single, without dependents.

Willard enlisted in the U.S. Army on June 16, 1942, from Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. At the time of his death, he was serving in Company C, 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion. He was Killed in action on September 20, 1944, during Operation Market Garden while participating in the Waal River crossing, the heroic crossing that liberated Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He was one of the 49 paratroopers killed during the assault on German positions on the opposite bank.

PFC Jenkins was declared Missing in Action. His remains were not found in any Allied cemeteries nor in any towns bordering the Waal River, where PFC Jenkins was lost. On August 15, 1950, PFC Jenkins was declared non-recoverable.

Through the work of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of PFC Willard Jenkins were accounted for in 2018. His name is permanently inscribed on the “Walls of the Missing” at the Netherlands American Cemetery. His remains were buried in the Abington Hills Cemetery, South Abington Township, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, USA. Although interred as an "unknown," his grave was meticulously cared for by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov