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| Sgt. James Williams was a B-17 tail gunner in the 358th Bomb Group for one combat mission. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50438385/james-o-williams |
James O. Williams never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
James was born on March 4, 1920 in Rosebud, Texas. His parents William and Ollie were also both born in Texas. His father worked as a telephone lineman. James had one younger sister and three younger brothers.
He volunteered for the Army Air Corps in March 1940. He became a sergeant and tail gunner in the 358th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses. The 303rd BG was based in Molesworth, England beginning in November 1942.
Sgt. Williams flew his first and last combat mission on March 23, 1944. He was the tail gunner in B-17 #42-32037. As his bomber was in the midst of its bomb run over Hamm, Germany, the tail compartment was hit directly by flak and broke apart, carry away Sgt. Williams. The plane managed to return safely to England. Sgt. Williams' remains were recovered on the ground by the Germans.
His grave is at Woodland Cemetery in Rosebud, Texas.
Last year on this date I profiled engineer Joseph Smith, who was a POW on the Enoura Maru. You can read about Joseph here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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