William Norman Perry was born circa 1825. He married Amie Sayles prior to the beginning of the Civil War and settled in Delavan, Wisconsin. On August 13, 1862 he enlisted into Company D of the 22nd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. After training at Camp Utley in Racine, Wisconsin the regiment moved out to Kentucky, where it chased Confederate forces throughout the state and into Tennessee, participating in light skirmishes. Perry quickly achieved the rank of sergeant.
On March 25, 1863 the 22nd Wisconsin took part in a battle at Brentwood, Tennessee and the entire regiment surrendered to Confederate forces. Due to the prisoner exchange policies in place, Perry and his fellow soldiers only spent seventeen days as prisoners before being released and sent to St. Louis to re-equip. The regiment was then deployed to Nashville and Murfeesboro. In the spring of 1864 Perry began suffering back problems and was sent to various Union hospitals to seek treatment. He ended up at Harvey Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin in June 1864. In October Perry, still in Madison, received a commission as a first lieutenant in Company F of the 44th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. With that unit, he moved out to Nashville and took part in the battle there (December 14-16, 1864). They remained in Nashville through March 1865 before transferring to Paducah, Kentucky. They stayed there until August, and Perry was mustered out with his company on August 28, 1865.
After the war, Perry and his family moved to Nebraska and Iowa before settling in Mitchell, South Dakota. There he served as chief architect for the South Dakota Soldier's Home and was a member of Ransom Post No. 6 of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). Perry passed away on November 3, 1894 in Mitchell, South Dakota.
