World War II Honoree

William Lee 'Bill' Walker

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Meadville, Linn County, Missouri

Honored By

Marcia Walker Swetmon

Relationship

Daughter

In October, 1942, he volunteered for the Army Air Corp with basic training in Fort Worth, TX then on to Hondo Air Base. From Hondo, was assigned to Randolph Field located in San Antonio, TX. He was trained to service flight instruments for every type of military plane. After training, he returned to Hondo Air Base where he installed Automatic Pilots on planes for the Military student pilots in navigational training.  He flew with the pilots to make certain the automatic pilot functioned properly. He was served in the Pacific Theatre, mainly the island of Hawaii, Eniwetok, and Iwo Jima. While on the island of Iwo Jima, his tent was at the base of Mount Suribachi.  From Iwo, he was assigned to Saipan, the capital island of the North Mariana Islands. His duties included but not limited to the repair of watches, airplane clocks, and flight instruments.  In December 1945, was honorably discharge at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.