Mr. William Thomas Mahala

Funeral services will be held at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 17, 2011 at Hanes-Lineberry Funeral Home N. Elm Chapel. Burial will follow at Westminster Gardens.

William was born April 14, 1925, the son of Henry Clay Mahala, Sr. and Flossie Westmoreland. He is survived by his daughter Mrs. Vickie Stringer, his sister, Mrs. Ruth Marie Walke, two grandchildren; Mr. Michael Wheaton Lefler and Mrs. Courtney L. McQuillan. Great grandchildren; Mikayla, Paisley and Logan Lefler.

William was a native of Greensboro, and was a member of the Friendly Road Baptist Church. He also lived for some time in North Myrtle Beach SC., and attended Trinity United Methodist Church.

He truly deserves the title of one of America’s greatest generation having served his country proudly during WWII in the 29th Division, Company D,116th Infantry Regiment as a heavy weapons crewman. He fought in the Normandy invasion and received his Purple Heart for combat wounds, courtesy of a German artillery shell, near St. Lo France, July 6, 1944. After 2 1/2 years in Army hospitals he was discharged. He retired from the Greensboro police communications department. He was an avid hunter and golfer.

Donations can be made in lieu of flowers to the American Diabetes Association, 222 S. Church St., Suite 336M, Charlotte, NC 28202.

The family will receive friends from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.