They managed to kill or drive off all the Japanese soldiers manning it, and they captured five machine guns and one 77 mm fieldpiece. As he ordered four men to stay behind to contain the enemy, he and four others moved into a narrow ravine behind the enemy's strongpoint. During the action, he personally crossed 1,200 yards of sniper-infested underbrush by himself to get to a point where one of his platoon's was being held up by the enemy. When he finally did, he mounted the tank - still under fire - and directed its assault until the enemy position had been wiped out.Ībout a week later, on June 28, O'Brien planned a maneuver to capture a bitterly defended ridge. Using his pistol, he pounded on the tank to get the crew's attention. With no regard for his own safety, O'Brien ran into full view of the enemy to the tank in the lead. Eventually, they were sent to fight in the Pacific Theater. O'Brien continued to rise in the ranks, becoming a major in 1942 and then a lieutenant colonel by April 1943, when he was assigned to command the division's 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment. In October 1940, as the prospects of entering World War II loomed, the New York National Guard mobilized for active duty with the Army's 27th Infantry Division. At some point, he married his wife, Mary, and had a son, William Jr. O'Brien got his commission as an officer in 1926 and was promoted to captain by 1939. But his military training must have been calling him, because he eventually enlisted in the New York National Guard, which had returned to its regular duties since the end of World War I.įrom there, he made a career out of it.

The Troy Record said O'Brien continued to serve until 1922, when he went back to business college and then worked for a variety of business firms. In 1917, when O'Brien turned 18, he enlisted in the New York State Guard, which replaced the members of the New York National Guard who were drafted into active-duty service. According to a 1945 newspaper article from The Troy Record, O'Brien attended Troy Business College after high school, but his education was disrupted by World War I.

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