Lt. Col. William Leon Russell ’13 attended Arkansas State Teachers College, now the University of Central Arkansas, and played varsity football from 1937-40 while being enlisted in the Arkansas National Guard.
Russell’s unit was activated in 1940, and he served in the 153rd Infantry, Company C, at Fort Seward, Alaska, in anticipation of a Japanese invasion.
Russell served 18 months in the Aleutian Islands, where, in 1943, he received his first Purple Heart, and his company then proceeded to Normandy in time for D-Day. He was wounded again during the Battle of the Bulge.
Russell was awarded a Silver Oak Leaf Cluster and two Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters for an equivalent of eight Purple Hearts and was also awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star, among other awards, to become the most decorated soldier of the 83rd Division during World War II.
Russell, upon honorable discharge from the army in 1946, relocated with his wife, Gladys English Russell, to Ozark, where he was twice elected sheriff of Franklin County and served from 1947-50, during which time he rejoined the Arkansas National Guard, which was again deployed. By his retirement from the military in 1965, Russell had received additional citations and medals.
Russell resided in Fayetteville, Arkansas, until his death in 1990 and was buried with full military honors at the Fayetteville National Cemetery.
UCA posthumously conferred the honorary Doctor of Public Service to Russell on Feb. 22, 2013.