William P. “Bill” Raffel was born in Cook County, Illinois, on June 18, 1925. His parents were Sam Raffel (abt 1901 – Nov 1964) and Birdye (or Birdie) Raffel (24 Jun 1903 – 9 Apr 1991). He had a sister, Arlene Raffel (abt 1931 – unk). In 1930 the family lived at 3714 Roosevelt Road, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, and his father worked as a furniture salesman. In 1940 the family lived in Omaha, Nebraska, where his father was a department manager in the furniture business. The family returned to Chicago by 1943 and lived at 6828 Sheridan Road. He completed four years of high school and was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Chicago, Illinois on May 12, 1943.
He completed Army Air Forces armament and aerial gunnery training, and was assigned as a gunner on the heavy bomber crew of 2/Lt Floyd W. McCullough. The McCulough crew completed crew training in the States and departed Hunter Field, Georgia on November 26, 1944, bound for England via the North Atlantic Ferry route. The crew was assigned to the 837th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived at Station 137 by December 7, 1944, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.
S/Sgt Raffel and four of his crewmates were killed in action on February 20, 1945, when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38596, was shot down by flak just after bombs away over the railroad station at Nuremberg, Germany. S/Sgt Raffel's position was waist gunner. He was last seen trying to help his crew mate S/Sgt Hiram D. Dunham exit the ball turret, and was killed when the aircraft exploded.
He was buried initially at the cemetery in Furth, Germany. His remains were returned to the United States and reinterred at Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Cook County, Illinois on November 5, 1948.
B-17G 43-38596 crew:
• McCullough, Floyd W – 2/Lt – Pilot – POW
• Elam, Paul J – 2/Lt – Copilot – POW
• Whyte, Thomas C – F/O – Navigator – KIA
• Lehmkuhl, Donald J – 2/Lt – Bombardier – POW
• Taft, Kay S – T/Sgt – Engineer – POW
• Mitchell, Robert E – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Brotherton, Wayne C – Sgt – Spot Jammer – KIA
• Dunham, Hiram D – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Raffel, William P – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Hyatt, Gilbert E – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – POW
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com