William M. Costell resided in Cape May County, New Jersey prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army on November 14, 1939 prior to the war. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a Lithographer and also as Divorced, without dependents. William served as a Technical Sergeant and Engineer on B-24D #41-24138, 1330th Army Air Force Base Unit, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

B-24D #41-24138 took off, with a crew of 4, from Hsinching Airfield, Szechuan Province, China to Jorhat Airfield, India. This B-24 was being used for cargo missions and they were returning it empty after a recent cargo flight back to Jorhat. They last made contact to the Kharagpur air ground radio and noted that they were low on fuel. After that contact they were not seen nor heard from again, it was February 2, 1945. It was noted also that there was severe icing conditions in the area which may have also caused them to crash. Having actually gone "Missing" on the above date, he was not officially declared by the military as being dead until February 3, 1946. His name is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines.

William was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov