PLEASE READ A MORE DETAILED ACCOUNT OF BILL'S LIFE by clicking on the Photos link above.
Bill was born William Lambert Anderson in Manchester, Connecticut on the 30th of April, 1920. His parents were Ellis and Ellen Tedford Anderson. He attended Manchester High School where he graduated with the class of 1938B. He was a member of the Student Council, Debating Club and Rifle Team. He was President of the Rifle Team in his senior year.
Bill's mother became a single parent at some point prior to 1930. Her marriage with Elis Anderson was dissolved in March of 1940. Bill had a younger brother, Robert E. Anderson
Shortly after completing high school he found work in Pratt & Whitney Aircraft where he was involved in the Experimental Shop performing machining. He showed an interest in aviation taking private pilot lessons. He would enlist in the RCAF, Royal Canadian Air Force on 4 March 1941 becoming an aviation cadet, receiving his training at No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Camp Borden, Canada. Bill was a member of Course 40 at Camp Borden during the period 13 September 1941 through 19 December 1941 when he received his wings. He was commissioned a Pilot Officer on that day, just 12 days after the Pearl Harbor attack. He transferred his enlistment from the RCAF on 25 May 1942 to the U.S. Army Air Force. He was assigned a flight instructors position in Louisiana, shortly after volunteering for combat duty and being transferred to the 35th Fighter Squadron operating in the South Pacific where he flew both the P-39 and P-40N fighter aircraft. He would rise to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. It is not clear at this point where Bill served. His squadron moved about Australia and New Guinea, his base continually changing as they and the Japanese gained and lost positions. Bill wrote home to a friend that he had completed 70 missions.
It was there that Bill was involved in an action that took his life on 13 September 1943. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously. The award read as follows: "For operational flight missions from 4 December 1942 to 25 August 1943. For extraordinary achievement while participating in fifty operational flight missions in the Southwest Pacific Area, during which hostile contact was probable and expected. These operations included escorting bombers and transport aircraft, interception and attack missions, and patrol and reconnaissance flights. In the course of these operations, strafing and bombing attacks were made from dangerously low altitudes, destroying and damaging enemy installations and equipment. Throughout these flights, outstanding courage, ability, and devotion to duty were demonstrated."
Bill was buried at Ipswich Military Cemetery, Queensland, Australia on September 15th 1943. He would remain there along with more than 1400 other American war dead until the autumn of 1947 when all of our fallen were moved to their final resting places, as determined by their families.
Bill came home to Manchester where he rests here in East Cemetery in the Veteran's Section along with his brother Bob. Mother Ellen is resting a short distance to the southeast on a hill overlooking her two boys.
Bill was born William Lambert Anderson in Manchester, Connecticut on the 30th of April, 1920. His parents were Ellis and Ellen Tedford Anderson. He attended Manchester High School where he graduated with the class of 1938B. He was a member of the Student Council, Debating Club and Rifle Team. He was President of the Rifle Team in his senior year.
Bill's mother became a single parent at some point prior to 1930. Her marriage with Elis Anderson was dissolved in March of 1940. Bill had a younger brother, Robert E. Anderson
Shortly after completing high school he found work in Pratt & Whitney Aircraft where he was involved in the Experimental Shop performing machining. He showed an interest in aviation taking private pilot lessons. He would enlist in the RCAF, Royal Canadian Air Force on 4 March 1941 becoming an aviation cadet, receiving his training at No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Camp Borden, Canada. Bill was a member of Course 40 at Camp Borden during the period 13 September 1941 through 19 December 1941 when he received his wings. He was commissioned a Pilot Officer on that day, just 12 days after the Pearl Harbor attack. He transferred his enlistment from the RCAF on 25 May 1942 to the U.S. Army Air Force. He was assigned a flight instructors position in Louisiana, shortly after volunteering for combat duty and being transferred to the 35th Fighter Squadron operating in the South Pacific where he flew both the P-39 and P-40N fighter aircraft. He would rise to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. It is not clear at this point where Bill served. His squadron moved about Australia and New Guinea, his base continually changing as they and the Japanese gained and lost positions. Bill wrote home to a friend that he had completed 70 missions.
It was there that Bill was involved in an action that took his life on 13 September 1943. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously. The award read as follows: "For operational flight missions from 4 December 1942 to 25 August 1943. For extraordinary achievement while participating in fifty operational flight missions in the Southwest Pacific Area, during which hostile contact was probable and expected. These operations included escorting bombers and transport aircraft, interception and attack missions, and patrol and reconnaissance flights. In the course of these operations, strafing and bombing attacks were made from dangerously low altitudes, destroying and damaging enemy installations and equipment. Throughout these flights, outstanding courage, ability, and devotion to duty were demonstrated."
Bill was buried at Ipswich Military Cemetery, Queensland, Australia on September 15th 1943. He would remain there along with more than 1400 other American war dead until the autumn of 1947 when all of our fallen were moved to their final resting places, as determined by their families.
Bill came home to Manchester where he rests here in East Cemetery in the Veteran's Section along with his brother Bob. Mother Ellen is resting a short distance to the southeast on a hill overlooking her two boys.
PLEASE READ A MORE DETAILED ACCOUNT OF BILL'S LIFE by clicking on the Photos link above.
Bill was born William Lambert Anderson in Manchester, Connecticut on the 30th of April, 1920. His parents were Ellis and Ellen Tedford Anderson. He attended Manchester High School where he graduated with the class of 1938B. He was a member of the Student Council, Debating Club and Rifle Team. He was President of the Rifle Team in his senior year.
Bill's mother became a single parent at some point prior to 1930. Her marriage with Elis Anderson was dissolved in March of 1940. Bill had a younger brother, Robert E. Anderson
Shortly after completing high school he found work in Pratt & Whitney Aircraft where he was involved in the Experimental Shop performing machining. He showed an interest in aviation taking private pilot lessons. He would enlist in the RCAF, Royal Canadian Air Force on 4 March 1941 becoming an aviation cadet, receiving his training at No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Camp Borden, Canada. Bill was a member of Course 40 at Camp Borden during the period 13 September 1941 through 19 December 1941 when he received his wings. He was commissioned a Pilot Officer on that day, just 12 days after the Pearl Harbor attack. He transferred his enlistment from the RCAF on 25 May 1942 to the U.S. Army Air Force. He was assigned a flight instructors position in Louisiana, shortly after volunteering for combat duty and being transferred to the 35th Fighter Squadron operating in the South Pacific where he flew both the P-39 and P-40N fighter aircraft. He would rise to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. It is not clear at this point where Bill served. His squadron moved about Australia and New Guinea, his base continually changing as they and the Japanese gained and lost positions. Bill wrote home to a friend that he had completed 70 missions.
It was there that Bill was involved in an action that took his life on 13 September 1943. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously. The award read as follows: "For operational flight missions from 4 December 1942 to 25 August 1943. For extraordinary achievement while participating in fifty operational flight missions in the Southwest Pacific Area, during which hostile contact was probable and expected. These operations included escorting bombers and transport aircraft, interception and attack missions, and patrol and reconnaissance flights. In the course of these operations, strafing and bombing attacks were made from dangerously low altitudes, destroying and damaging enemy installations and equipment. Throughout these flights, outstanding courage, ability, and devotion to duty were demonstrated."
Bill was buried at Ipswich Military Cemetery, Queensland, Australia on September 15th 1943. He would remain there along with more than 1400 other American war dead until the autumn of 1947 when all of our fallen were moved to their final resting places, as determined by their families.
Bill came home to Manchester where he rests here in East Cemetery in the Veteran's Section along with his brother Bob. Mother Ellen is resting a short distance to the southeast on a hill overlooking her two boys.
Bill was born William Lambert Anderson in Manchester, Connecticut on the 30th of April, 1920. His parents were Ellis and Ellen Tedford Anderson. He attended Manchester High School where he graduated with the class of 1938B. He was a member of the Student Council, Debating Club and Rifle Team. He was President of the Rifle Team in his senior year.
Bill's mother became a single parent at some point prior to 1930. Her marriage with Elis Anderson was dissolved in March of 1940. Bill had a younger brother, Robert E. Anderson
Shortly after completing high school he found work in Pratt & Whitney Aircraft where he was involved in the Experimental Shop performing machining. He showed an interest in aviation taking private pilot lessons. He would enlist in the RCAF, Royal Canadian Air Force on 4 March 1941 becoming an aviation cadet, receiving his training at No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Camp Borden, Canada. Bill was a member of Course 40 at Camp Borden during the period 13 September 1941 through 19 December 1941 when he received his wings. He was commissioned a Pilot Officer on that day, just 12 days after the Pearl Harbor attack. He transferred his enlistment from the RCAF on 25 May 1942 to the U.S. Army Air Force. He was assigned a flight instructors position in Louisiana, shortly after volunteering for combat duty and being transferred to the 35th Fighter Squadron operating in the South Pacific where he flew both the P-39 and P-40N fighter aircraft. He would rise to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. It is not clear at this point where Bill served. His squadron moved about Australia and New Guinea, his base continually changing as they and the Japanese gained and lost positions. Bill wrote home to a friend that he had completed 70 missions.
It was there that Bill was involved in an action that took his life on 13 September 1943. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously. The award read as follows: "For operational flight missions from 4 December 1942 to 25 August 1943. For extraordinary achievement while participating in fifty operational flight missions in the Southwest Pacific Area, during which hostile contact was probable and expected. These operations included escorting bombers and transport aircraft, interception and attack missions, and patrol and reconnaissance flights. In the course of these operations, strafing and bombing attacks were made from dangerously low altitudes, destroying and damaging enemy installations and equipment. Throughout these flights, outstanding courage, ability, and devotion to duty were demonstrated."
Bill was buried at Ipswich Military Cemetery, Queensland, Australia on September 15th 1943. He would remain there along with more than 1400 other American war dead until the autumn of 1947 when all of our fallen were moved to their final resting places, as determined by their families.
Bill came home to Manchester where he rests here in East Cemetery in the Veteran's Section along with his brother Bob. Mother Ellen is resting a short distance to the southeast on a hill overlooking her two boys.
Inscription
World War II, 35th Fighter Sq., Died Sept. 13, 1943, Age 23
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