William Howard Spindler was born at Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 15, 1924, and later resided at Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York. He was the oldest of three children of William Riley Spindler (1 Sep 1894 – 21 Sep 1981), who was born at Avalon, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; and Caroline Denning 'Carol' (Howard) Spindler (9 Aug 1894 – 16 Apr 1979), who was born in Pennsylvania. His father graduated from the University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1918; he was later Export Sales Manager for the New York City office of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. His mother attended Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh (now Carnegie-Mellon University), and was a commercial artist. She visited Paris in 1925 on a fashion assignment for her job.

The family left Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1938, and settled in Scarsdale, New York. William H. Spindler attended Scarsdale High School, where he was a star athlete on both the baseball and football varsity teams. He graduated in June 1942 and was accepted to attend Colgate University in the Fall, but gave that up to serve his country. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at New York City, New York on June 27, 1942. His home of record was 20 Wayside Lane, Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York.

He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training, and was assigned as tail turret gunner on the heavy bomber crew of 2/Lt Joseph S. Van Dyke. In December 1943 the Van Dyke crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Van Dyke crew was assigned to the 836th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 41-28822 from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

Sgt Spindler and his eight crewmates were killed in action on June 23, 1944, when their aircraft, B-24H 41-28822, was shot down near Brussels, Belgium after bombing an airfield at Juvincourt, France. The aircraft was hit by flak in the open bomb bay and exploded in the air. It fell in pieces in the meadow of Scheutbos near the intersection of Kasterlindenstraat (Rue Kasterninden) and Palokestraat (Rue Paloke).

He was buried initially at Evere Cemetery in Brussels, Belgium. After the war, his remains were reinterred at Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium.

B-24H 41-28822 crew:
• Van Dyke, Joseph S – 2/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• Thies, Merle J – 2/Lt – Copilot – KIA
• Zebora, Rudolph J – 2/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Kraus, Leslie E – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Glenn, James R – Sgt – Ball Turret – KIA
• Crossley, Charles H – S/Sgt – Top Turret – KIA
• Spindler, William H – Sgt – Tail Turret – KIA
• Rupe, Bradford A – Sgt – Nose Turret – KIA
• Snead, John E – T/Sgt – Engineer – KIA

Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com