World War II Honoree

William H. Bengeyfield

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

East Williston, New York

Honored By

Barbara Bengeyfield Torres

Relationship

Daughter

He served in WWII from 1943 to 1947 in the Pacific Theater of Operations as a navigator/bombardier and crewed up for B-25 aircraft. He spent his 21st birthday at Pearl Harbor waiting for a new radio before island hopping through the South Pacific and arrived in Finschhafen, Papua, New Guinea. He flew a couple of combat missions from there-Rabaul and Wewak. He also went up to Biak. From there he went to Leyte; Clark Field in Manila and was finally stationed at the Lingayen Gulf. He subsequently transferred to crew the new B-32 and was 2 days out of Okinawa on an LST when the broadcast came that the U.S. had dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima. He was assigned to Chitose, Japan after the Peace Signing until he was finally sent home.