World War II Honoree

William L. Wilson

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Crawford County, Ohio

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private. On March 19, 1941, he entered the United States Army Air Corps at Columbus, Ohio. Deployed to the Philippine Islands, Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations where he served with the Ordnance Department, 454th Ordnance ‘Aviation’ Company, 27th Bombardment Group, V-Bomber Command a subordinate unit of the Fifth Far East Air Force. Assigned to Provisional Infantry Company, he participated in the Battle of the Philippine Islands (Battle Dates: December 8, 1941-May 6, 1942), the conquest of the Philippine Islands by the Imperial Japanese Army and Naval forces. While his unit was retreating to the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon in the Battle of Bataan, the Japanese Forces captured him April 9, 1942. His captors subjected him to participate in the Bataan Death March and held in captivity at the Prisoner of War Camp #1 Cabanatuan Nueva Province, Luzon for 85 days. On July 3, 1942, he died of unknown causes and buried in a common grave along with seven other prisoners in the Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Cemetery. On February 17, 1950, they reinterred the eight Soldiers in a group burial at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Saint Louis, Missouri. This Soldier, an American Patriot, so gallantly gave up his life in the service of his country.