WWII Soldier Killed at Parade Honoring Veterans
Fri Nov 12,10:51 AM ET

BOSTON (Reuters) - William Hammond survived one of the bloodiest battles of World War II but died at a parade honoring him and others after a van at a Veteran's Day parade ran over him.

Hammond, of Abington, Mass., was accidentally run over during a parade Thursday in Whitman, Mass. by a van owned by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter and driven by a close friend of his, according to Boston's WBZ radio station.

Hammond, 80, fought in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944-1945, one of the toughest offensives of World War II as under-equipped U.S. soldiers fended off a last-ditch German offensive in one of Europe's bitterest winters.

Whitman police were not available to comment.