William H. Durant was born in 1923 in Ohio. He resided in Franklin County, Ohio prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army on January 18, 1943 in Columbus, Ohio. He was noted as being employed in the building of aircraft and also as Single, with dependents. William served as a Sergeant and Gunner on B-24 "Repulser" (#41-28843), 715th Bomber Squadron, 448th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He was Killed In Action when their B-24 was attacked by heavily-armed ME 410 German fighters and crashed.

On the 22nd April 1944, 26 United States Air Force planes took off from Seething airfield to bomb targets in Nazi Germany, but B-24 Liberator 843 “Repulser” was hit as it returned to base and crashed in fields near Kessingland. Part of the 715th Squadron, the men on board were on their third mission after arriving at the south Norfolk air station in the early spring. Hitler’s Luftwaffe took full advantage of its unusually late return to the UK on that fateful night, caused by poor weather before take-off, and sent a force of heavily-armed ME 410 fighters to intercept the bombers.

SGT Durant is now buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

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