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Atchison Resident, WWII Vet, Dies

By Joel Hardy

11/17/2015

(KAIR)--Longtime Atchison resident, and one of the only slightly more than 8,000 WWII veterans in the state of Kansas, has died.

Bill Irons was born in 1919 and graduated from Omaha Technical School before entering the United States Marine Corp at the outbreak of World War 2. He was older than most when he enlisted, and he told MSC News in a past interview that he had to put up a fight. “There were too many young guys that were deferred just because they knew somebody. They were commonly known as draft dodgers. I did not like that title, so I told the person running the record that I was leaving, and he said you can't do that, and I said we can either do it the hard way or the easy way. The hard way is I quit, and withing six months, the draft will have me.”

Once he was in the military, Irons had his sights set on one job, but it was not meant to be. He says “I wanted to be a pilot. I couldn't do that because of my eyes. I wanted to be a navigator and I couldn't get into that, and eventually, they said...'okay, Irons, you are going to go to administrative school.”

Irons was proud of Atchison, and was involved in many civic activities during his nearly 63 years of living in the community, including the American Legion, The United Way, and the Atchison Rotary Club.

Irons is survived by his wife, Sally, four sons, and numerous grandchildren.

Irons' family will greet friends Thursday evening from 6:00-7:00 in the chapel of the Arensberg-Pruett Funeral Home in Atchison, with a memorial service beginning at 7:00. He will be interned in the Leavenworth National Cemetery Friday morning at 10:00.

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