Second Lieutenant Bobby Joe Williams was born in Safford, Graham County, Arizona on 31 October 1923. He was the younger of two sons born to Emmett Guy Williams and Thelma Musgrave Williams.

Bobby Joe’s father, known as “Doc,” was born in Strawn, Texas in 1891. Doc began as a youngster helping his parents make saddles as the family moved around to various small ranching communities throughout Texas and New Mexico. As a young man, Doc completed an apprenticeship with a famous saddle maker in Pueblo, Colorado. In addition to his leather business, Doc was a talented blue grass fiddler.

Bobby Joe’s mother, Thelma, was born in Del Rio, Texas in 1896 and was the daughter of a Texas Ranger. She and Doc married in Alpine, Texas on 18 May 1912. Prior to arriving in Flagstaff, the family lived in Deming, New Mexico and Safford, Arizona. In 1925, Doc moved his young family to Flagstaff and settled into working at a local saddle shop. By 1930, Doc had purchased that business and established his shop as one of the premier saddle makers in the country. Bobby Joe’s mother, Thelma, worked in the family saddle making business as both a clerk and its bookkeeper. In addition to their saddle and leather goods shop, Doc and Thelma purchased and began operating the Museum Club in 1936. Together, they transformed a log building housing an extensive collection of taxidermy specimens, natural oddities, and Native American artifacts into the iconic Route 66 restaurant, bar, and night club it is today.

When Bobby Joe was two years old, his family moved from Safford in eastern Arizona to the high country of Flagstaff. As a student at Flagstaff High School (FHS), he excelled as a member of the band and orchestra on the French horn and sang in the glee club. Bobby Joe was very active in extra-curricular activities serving on the student council, elected as president of both the Science and Hiking clubs, and was the basketball team manager. In his senior year, he was inducted into the National Honor Society and re-elected FHS Student Body Treasurer.

After graduating high school in Spring 1941, Bobby Joe attended Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff (present-day Northern Arizona University). While there, he continued to develop his musical talent and played in the college band. After about a year and a half at ASTC, Bobby Joe decided to join thousands of other young Americans by enlisting in the war effort.

On 07 December 1942, the one-year anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bobby Joe Williams was sworn into the U.S. Army Air Forces at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, California. Following his initial training, he was assigned to the 446th Bombardment Group not long after it was activated in April 1943 at Davis-Monthan Army Air Base (AAB) in Tucson, Arizona. In June 1943, the unit moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico and then, quickly on to Lowery AAB outside of Denver, Colorado.

For the next four months, Second Lieutenant Williams trained as a navigator on a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber as a member of the 704th Fighter Squadron, calling themselves “The Vultures.” In October 1943, the ground support personnel of the 446th departed by train to New York and then sailed to England. On 20 October 1943, the air crews of the 704th took off in their B-24s from Lowery AAB. For the next two weeks, the crews followed flight plans that were deemed relatively safe and provided much needed stops for rest and refueling. Their route took Bobby and the crew of the B-24H, 42-7611 (“Silver Dollar”) to Nebraska, Florida, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Senegal, and Morocco before they finally landed at the airfield in Bungay, England located about 90 miles northeast of London.

The 446th began the first of its 273 bombing missions to targets in Germany in mid-December 1943 and it wasn’t long before they became known as the “Bungay Buckaroos.” On 22 December 1943, 2nd Lt. Williams and the nine other crew members of the “Silver Dollar” (42-7611) embarked with other B-24H Liberators on their third mission to bomb targets. Their destination was Osnabrück, Germany. Sadly, Bobby’s plane didn’t return.

In mid-January 1944, Bobby Joe’s family was notified that he was officially listed as “Missing in Action.” It would be four more years before his parents would finally learn how their son died. In May 1948, they received a letter from the Adjutant General of the Army stating their “son’s plane was damaged near Osnabrück, Germany, when bombs from another plane fell on it.” According to the official Missing Air Crew Report (MACR), the 704th squadron was flying above cloud cover over the target. A bomb that had been dropped from another “friendly aircraft” tore off one wing of the “Silver Dollar.” The plane went into a spin and was last seen falling through the heavy clouds. Later, the War Department learned that only two members of the crew had escaped before the plane crashed killing everyone else.

A couple of months later, Bobby Joe’s parents were notified that their son’s remains had originally been buried in the Achmer Airdrome Military Cemetery in Germany. In their attempt to place Bobby’s remains in what could be considered a more suitable resting place, Army Graves Registration Personnel moved him to the United States Military Cemetery in Margarten, Holland.

It would take almost another year before Bobby’s body would be returned to U.S. soil. His body was transported aboard the USNS Haiti Victory along with almost 3,000 other Americans who had died in Europe during World War II. Finally, on 26 April 1949, 2nd Lieutenant Bobby Joe Williams was laid to rest at Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso, Texas. He was buried with full military honors and posthumously awarded a Purple Heart.

The Flagstaff community honored Bobby Joe and the sixteen other fallen heroes of World War II by inscribing their names on a memorial monument that stands in Wheeler Park. In addition to the town memorial, Bobby Joe’s alma mater, Flagstaff High School, honored all its alumni and teachers who served in World War II when they dedicated a newly built Memorial Gymnasium in 1946. During the dedication ceremony, school officials presented a plaque on which the name of Bobby Joe Williams was inscribed along with the names of fourteen other FHS students who lost their lives in the war. As a final tribute to Bobby Joe, his parents designed an official school flag that was presented to the students at Flagstaff High School in 1951. This flag, displaying the FHS eagle mascot in white with green background on one side and a green eagle with white background on the other side, remains in the school gym to this day in honor of 2nd Lieutenant Bobby Joe Williams.

SOURCES:

1. “World War II Memorials,” database with images, fold3.com (https://www.fold3.com/page/638212490/bobby-j-williams : accessed 14 May 2021), entry for Bobby J. Williams.

2. Arizona State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Original Certificate of Birth, State Index No. 216, Local Registrar No. 194 (1923), Bobby Joe Williams, online image, Ancestry.com (https://ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2021); citing Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona Birth Records, “Arizona, U.S. Birth Certificates, 1880-1935,” image #1038 of 2432.

3. “Northern Arizona’s Citizen of the Week: Emmett Guy Williams, Saddlemaker - Fiddler,” Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 24 February 1950, p. 2; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 May 2021).

4. “Doc Williams Has Been Making Saddles for Cowpokes Ever Since Spanish-American War,” Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 27 January 1949, p. 2; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 May 2021).

5. “Thelma Williams,” obituary, Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 14 February 1989, p. 2; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 19 May 2021).

6. 1930 U.S. census, Ancestry.com* .*

7. Weiser, Kathy, “Haunted Museum Club in Flagstaff, Arizona,” at https://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-museumclub/ : accessed 22 May 2021), section “Legends of America: Legends, Ghosts, & Mysteries.”

8. 1940 U.S. census, Ancestry.com* .*

9. Flagstaff High School (Flagstaff, Arizona), The Kinlani, yearbook photo for Bobby Joe Williams, Class of 1941; image copy; crediting Flagstaff Public Library, Reference Desk, Flagstaff, Arizona.

10. “A Long Wait for the Truth,” Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 27 May 1994, p. 2; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 10 May 2021).

11. “Draft Registration Cards for Arizona, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947,” digital image, *fold3.com *(https://www.fold3.com/image/539578592 : accessed 15 May 2021), card for Bobby Joe Williams, serial no. 343, Local Draft Board #1, Flagstaff, Coconino County, Arizona; citing NARA, “Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II, Multiple Registrations,” record group: 147; roll: 44538_03_00014.

12. “Bobby Jo Williams Military Rites to be Held Tuesday,” Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 22 April 1949, p. 4; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 19 May 2021).

13. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/704th_Fighter_Squadron ), “446th Bomb Group Liberators on their way to a target,” citing NARA via the United States Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB Alabama.Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Rcbutcher using CommonsHelper. Original uploader was Bwmoll3 at en.wikipedia 30 September 2006 (original upload date) https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18178995, 03:43 (UTC), 26 November 2020.

14. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/704th_Fighter_Squadron ), “Emblem of the 704th Bombardment Squadron (World War II),” citing United States Army Air Forces - Mauer, Mauer (1969), Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II, Air Force Historical Studies Office, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. ISBN 0892010975, Public Domain, 03:43 (UTC), 26 November 2020.

15. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/704th_Fighter_Squadron ), “704th Fighter Squadron,” 23:44 (UTC), 19 May 2021.

16. Castens, Edward H., “The story of the 446th Bomb Group,” (1946), World War Regimental Histories, 110; digitized as part of the World War Collections at Bangor Community: Digital Commons@bpl (https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1112&context=ww_reg_his : accessed 17 May 2021).

17. “Aircraft of the 446th: 704 Bomb Squadron,” at Norfolk and Suffolk aviation Museum (https://www.aviationmuseum.net/704BS.htm : accessed 18 May 2021), sections “446th Bomb Group

Squadron aircraft>704 BS.”

18. “Lt. Williams, Nephew of Tucson Woman, Lost,” Tucson Daily Citizen, (Tucson, Arizona), 20 January 1944, p. 9; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 May 2021).

19. “Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs) of the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942-1947,” digital image, fold3.com(https://www.fold3.com/ : accessed 17 May 2021), entry Serial Number: 42-7611, Report Number: 2009, Osnabruck, Germany, 1943; citing NARA, “Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs), compiled 1942-1947,” record group: 92, roll: 00601-00700.

20. “Bobby Williams’ Grave is Found: Army Notifies Flagstaff Parents Young Pilot’s Body is in Holland,” Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 15 July 1948, p. 1; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 May 2021).

21. “Body of Flagstaff Man En Route Home,” Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 18 March 1949, p. 2; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 May 2021).

22. “Body of Flagstaff Man En Route Home,” Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 18 March 1949, p. 2; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 May 2021).

23. “U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962,” digital image, Ancestry.com (https://ancestry.com : accessed 17 May 2021), entry for Bobby Joe Williams; citing NARA at College Park, “Interment Control Forms, A1 2110-B. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985,” record group: 92, College Park, Maryland.

24. Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 14 May 2021), memorial 111331138, Bobby Joe Williams (1923-1943), Fort Bliss National Cemetery, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas; photograph added by Charles Bowman.

25. “High School Memorial Gym to be Dedicated Monday Evening,” Arizona Daily Sun, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 02 November 1949, p. 1; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 April 2021).

26. “School to Get Memorials for War Dead,” The Arizona Republic, (Flagstaff, Arizona), 09 May 1951, p. 8; image copy, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 May 2021).

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Thank you 2nd Lt. Bobby Joe Williams for your service and your sacrifice. You will not be forgotten.

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.

As part of the ongoing ‘Stories Behind the Stars’ project, members of the West Valley Genealogical Society and Library (www.azwvgs.org) located in Youngtown, AZ – the largest genealogical library in Arizona – are working to write stories about the heroes who fought and died during World War II. We honor them by sharing their life stories, photographs, and more in memory of their ultimate sacrifice for this country.

SBTS/Arizona/Coconino

Bobby J Williams