In 1942 Bill enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet. As a humorous anecdote of his early military duties, he thought he would advance more quickly if he volunteered a lot. This put him in the kitchen where he peeled potatoes for two days and nights. He was happily transferred to Kelly Field in Texas. After several more transfers, he received his wings at Altus Air Force Base. From there, he went to San Antonio where he became an instructor in flying. He saw twenty three of his students become commissioned pilots. He then volunteered for combat and was sent to the Mediterranean theater of operations where he was awarded several medals for flying missions in Africa, Sicily, Italy and Southern France. He flew C-47 transports dropping paratroopers and (frequently) leaflets warning the populace to remove themselves from the target area. The runs were executed mostly at night and were no mean accomplishment. They had about three hours to do this before reaching the drop zone. The zones would cross roads or open fields, and some pilots could not find them because of bad weather or because they were simply lost. The zones were always in enemy territory and the pilots had to fly low to drop the soldiers. There was little anti-aircraft fire and no enemy fighters at that altitude, but still bullets reached them. After troops were away, the pilots were on their own to find their way back to base. They often got lost, but most made it.

The closest he came to catching a bullet was when one hit a hydraulic line causing his co-pilot to suffer burns about the head. The most harrowing experience that Bill recalled was when returning to base, he found that the fog and rain were so heavy that all he could see were his wings. When the fog lifted, he could see trees above his wings!

An interesting anecdote was added to this story: At one point in time overseas, Bill had a roommate from Columbia City, Indiana. On this occasion, the roommate wrote home to report to his mother that they were out of popcorn. She reported this to her church and by the end of the month the boys had received over 300 pounds of popcorn!

Bill developed ear problems and was discharged at Wright Patterson in Dayton, Ohio, in 1944. He went to work for Texaco and operated a distributorship for them. He moved to Indianapolis in 1959 and now lives in Fishers with his wife, Juanita. He has a son, Bill, Jr., from a previous marriage. Bill, Jr. is an attorney living in Indianapolis.

Bill's group has had a reunion every year since 1977. It was held at Wright Patterson A.F.B. in 1987 when he was president.

In January, 2005, when Bill was purchasing a condo in Fishers, he hired a firm to examine it. The examiner left the flooring off in a closet into which Bill stepped and fell through. He was injured, requiring six men from the fire department to get him out and onto a stretcher. He was in the hospital for several days and still receives treatment. Fortunately, he is still able to come to History Saturday occasionally and reminisce.

The End