William Chamberlin was born on June 27, 1917 in East Mill Creek, Utah to Seth C and Ruth L Robinson Chamberlin. He was the oldest of six children, two boys and four girls. William graduated from Granite high school and attended the University of Utah.

William enlisted in the Army Air Force in June, 1940. His service number was 404035. Bill earned his commission and pilot wings at Randolph Field, Texas and for a time, he was an instructor holding the rank of 1st Lieutenant. He began working his way up the ranks of the military.

On February 15, 1941, William married Margaret (Peggy) Farnes and together they had a son who was just four months old when his father was killed.

Lt. Chamberlin was sent overseas in June, 1943 as a member of the 388th bomber group of the 8th Air Force made up of B-17 Flying Fortress planes. On July 26, 1943 as a Major, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement while serving as the leading plane of a bombing mission over Germany. He also earned an oak leaf cluster to an air medal for “courage, coolness and skill displayed while participating in an additional five combat missions over Europe.”

At one time, he spoke of his crew and a raid on Rheims, France. They had bombed the Champaigne airdome, fighter base and repair station. He said “I led a group formation and saw all the boys do an excellent job of flying and bombing. The fighter escort was the best I’ve ever seen.”

From May 1942 to July 1945 the 8th Air Force completed hundreds of bombing raids over Europe. They lost more than 26,000 men, which was more than half of the Air Force casualties. On May 25, 1944, as the 8th was helping to prepare for D-day, “STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 370: 406 bombers and 604 fighters make visual attacks on rail installations and airfields in Belgium and France; 4 bombers and 12 fighters are lost; the fighters claim 13-2-3 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 3-0-5 on the ground” Lt. Colonel William L Chamberlin’s plane crashed over France,

Lt. Col. Chamberlin’s body was returned to the United States on May 8 1949 for reburial in Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California, Section K, site 61.

Sources:

US, Find A Grave Index

US National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962

US Veterans’ Gravesites, 1776-2019

Utah, Military Records, 1861-1970

US, Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945

“8th Air Force/J-GSOC”, 8af.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets

“Distinguished Flying Cross”, history,navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/awards/decorations

“USAAF Chronology:”, paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/May,44.html

Newspapers.com (Salt Lake Telegram, Salt Lake City, Utah) September 27, 1943

Newspapers.com (Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah) May 25, 1949

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

Lt. Col. William LeGrande Chamberlin, recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross