Young Bill at about age 1 year.

Bill is pictured here in is Royal Canadian Air Force uniform where he was a pilot officer having recently completed his course of training on 19 December 1941, 12 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Bill would shortly change his service obligations to the U.S. Army Air Force.

He was assigned the position of instructor pilot based in Louisiana. He soon applied for combat duty and was transferred to bases in Australia and New Guinea. Bill was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to any officer or enlisted member of the United States Armed Forces who distinguishes himself in support of operations by "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight. The Air Medal medal is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.

Bill graduated from Manchester High School, Manchester, Connecticut with the class of 1938B. He excelled at higher mathematics, history, and spoke French. After graduation he was employed by Pratt & Whitney, the aircraft engine manufacturer in nearby East Hartford. He worked in their Experimental Machine Shop.

Both my recollections and those of his other cousin, Larry Cassells, was that Bill served with the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force). We formed that opinion from our memory of his framed uniformed picture that graced his mother's living room throughout her life. My search began in Canada where I would develop a collaboration with an excellent researcher, Barry Miller. He soon convinced me that Bill might have served for a time with the Canadians, and then transferred his enlistment to the U.S. military.

Our search turned up U.S. records indicating that Bill had died while in the service of the Army Air Force. Records suggested that he was killed in the South Pacific and was temporarily interred in Ipswich Military Cemetery in Queensland, Australia.

It is unclear how Bill met his death. Government records issued during the war include his name as a casualty from Connecticut. The designation DNB follows his name and serial number. The designation DNB indicates, Died Non Battle vs KIA or Killed In Action.

A brief entry found in the appendix of the book entitled, Attack & Conquer, The 8th Fighter Group in World War II ISBN: 0-887400-808-7 suggests that his P-40N fighter plane engine failed on takeoff and crashed back to the runway killing him instantly. My request for the crash report was submitted to our nation’s military records keeping library in St. Louis. They in turn provided a report stating Bill's plane had crashed "Near Eagle Farm, Brisbane, Australia. Eagle Farm was a repair center for aircraft engines, not a field that active fighter squadrons operated from. It could be that he was test flying a repaired aircraft that had engine failure. His squadron was transitioning between the P-39 Airacobra and the P-40N Warhawk, the older P-39s all needed to be airworthy in order to be flown out of Australia. I believe I have exhausted all my sources that could provide the fine details. Additionally, the Army Records Center in St. Louis, MO had a fire in 1973 and they advised that many records from his section were destroyed.

Bill did see action as a fighter pilot. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal for his actions in the South Pacific.




Bill was survived by his mother, Ellen Tedford Anderson Bronkie, and a younger brother, Robert E. Anderson. All 3 are resting in East Cemetery.

Respectfully submitted,
Richard C. Jenkins of Niceville, Florida
Cousin to Bill Anderson

Bill's grave site located in East Cemetery, Manchester, Connecticut.

Manchester CT World War II Memorial Located in Munro Park at the intersection of Center Street and Porter Street, on the right when traveling east on Center Street. Inscribed: In tribute to the men of Manchester who gave their lives in World War II.