William Joseph McGowan was born July 26, 1920 in Benson, Swift County, Minnesota.

Bill’s parents, Joseph McGowan and Mary Donnelly, were born and married in Swift County. His father was editor and publisher of the county newspaper in Benson. Bill had two younger sisters. He graduated from high school at St Thomas Military Academy in St. Paul and went on to graduate from the University of Missouri's School of Journalism in 1942.

While he was in Missouri Bill enlisted in the Army Reserves. He was chosen for Army Air Force training and received his wings at Eagle Pass (TX) Army Air Fielding December 1943. His first station was Harding Field in Louisiana. While Bill was in Baton Rouge he married a Minnesota girl, Suzanne Schaefer. Two months later he was sent to England to join the 391st Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force based in Thruxton, England.

Lt. McGowan piloted a one-man P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber. P-47s conducted fighter sweeps over occupied Europe, bombing tactical targets, and engaging enemy planes in air-to-air combat.

On June 6, 1944 while on a mission to strafe the train station at Lison, France in support of the invasion, Lt. McGowan's P-47 was shot down. The plane crashed and burst into flames near the village of Moon-sur-Elle. Lt. McGowan was listed as Missing in Action. His ID tags were recovered but no remains were found.

In 2018 students from St. Mary’s University Forensic Aviation Archaeological Field School excavated the test site and found bone fragments. After analysis by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Lt. McGowan was identified on May 13, 2019. He is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

References:

Missing - Minneapolis Star Tribune, 25 Jun 1944, p24

Remains identified - Minneapolis Star Tribune, 25 May 2020, pp E1, E6

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=67207

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56647557/william-joseph-mcgowan

https://www.natotigers.org/tiger-unit/391st-fighter-squadron

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

William J McGowan