William Wilson resided in Baltimore, Maryland, prior to the war. He served as a Flight Officer and Navigator on the B-17 #43-38701, 850th Bomber Squadron, 490th Bomber Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. B-17G 43-38701 took off from Eye in Suffolk on the morning of April 19, 1945, on a mission to bomb the marshaling yards at Aussig in Czechoslovakia. After successfully releasing their bombs they were attacked and shot down by German aircraft just south of Dresden, Germany. Their plane was hit at the starboard wing and set the fuel tanks and two engines ablaze. 2nd Lt. Trojanowski, Sgt. Dole and S/Sgt. Lesh were the only members of the ten-man crew that managed to bail out of the burning aircraft. The other crew members perished when the airplane exploded in mid-air, and the wreckage fell to earth in fields between the villages of Hradišťko, Sestrouň, and Zberaz, some 45 km south of Prague.
F/O Wilson is now buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France.
B-17 #43-38701 crew:
Snyder, Paul A ~ 2nd Lt, Pilot, OH
Stewart, Ross E., Jr. ~ 2nd Lt, Co-Pilot, NY
Dole, Lyle E. ~ Sgt, Engineer, WA
Langley, George B., Jr. ~ Sgt, Ball Turret Gunner, NJ
Lesh, Wilbur L. ~ S/Sgt, Jammer, MO
Phillips, Richard B. ~ Sgt, Tail Gunner, NC
Stauffer, Wayne W. ~ Sgt, Radio Operator, PA
Trojanowski, Joseph A. ~ 2nd Lt, Bombardier, MA
Wilson, William ~ F/O, Navigator, MD
Zuendel, William G., Jr. ~ Sgt, Waist Gunner, OH
Source of information: www.findagrave.com, aircrewremembered.com