World War II Honoree

William Eugene 'Bill' Nassif

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Bismarck, North Dakota

Honored By

Mark Jon Erickson

Relationship

Cousin

He was assigned in 1944 as a Bombardier to the 301st Bomb Group of the 15th Air Force and flew with the 352nd Squadron based in Lucera, Italy. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and trained at Kelly Field in Texas. He was chosen to be a Bombardier and continued training at the Advanced Twin Engine and Bombardier Training Center in Midland Army Airfield. He accomplished a handful of missions over occupied Europe until his final mission came one day after Christmas on December 26, 1944. It began 8 am when the B-17 'Kandy'(44-6337) left the airfield for a mission over an oil refinery complex at Blechhammer in Southern Germany. After 'Bombs Away' over the target, Blechhammer, the ship already flying in a terribly dense flak (German Artillery) field sustained horrific hits on their #3 and #4 engines. The ship quickly began losing altitude and fire, smoke and gas vapors were streaming from the engine and left formation while southeast of the target. Within 30 minutes 'Kandy' crash-landed near Krakow, Poland in the vicinity of the communities of Kobierzyn and (Lagiewniki) Borek-Falecki. The entire crew survived the landing and were all uninjured. They were captured by the Luftwaffe and were interned in Stalag Luft 3 in Bavaria. They would be held as Prisoners of war until almost the end of the European conflict, when the camp was freed in May of 1945 by General Patton's 8th Army as it rolled through Germany on the way to Berlin. In July of 1945 he was Honorably Discharged from the Air Corps and returned home.