William Everett Kopf was born February 9, 1917 in Nevada, Story County Iowa to John Wilhelm Kopf (1874-1941) and Blanche Densmore Kopf (1878-1938). Both were born in Iowa, but their parents emigrated from Germany. Both had died before William entered the service. He had three brothers Lyle, Russell and Robert and two sisters Leota and Velda. William was the middle child.

William enlisted in the Army Air Forces at Fort Des Moines, Iowa on 31 May 1941 and received his wings at Moody Field, Georgia, on March 27, 1943. He was sent to England in August 1943. He served during World War II and had the rank of Second Lieutenant. Service number was O-800900. Served with 384th Bomber Group, Heavy, 547th Bomber Squadron as a Pilot of B-17’s.

He was on his fifth combat mission, third as the pilot when he lost his life on October 14, 1943. His aircraft the B-17 #42-3216 “Joker” was on a mission to bomb the ball bearings factory in Schweinfurt, Germany when the aircraft was hit by enemy flak. The nose was blown off and the plane blew up over Rambluzin-et-Benoite-Vaux, Meuse, France. Kopf had been shot in the head and chest while in his pilot seat and he went down with the aircraft. Seven crew members were killed. Three parachuted out and evaded capture.

William E Kopf is buried at Plot K Row 32 Grave 24, Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.

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7 crew members KIA:

Pilot: 2nd Lt. William Kopf, IA

Co-Pilot: 2nd St. Alfred W. Scott, Jr., CA

Navigator: 2nd Lt. Toscha Massey, MO

Ball Turret Gunner: S/Sgt. Clyde Smith, WY

Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. Lee Roy Bernard, LA

Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. Anthony P. Perroni, MA

Tail Gunner: Sgt. Elton Buddemeyer, MO

3 Evaded capture and returned to duty:

Bombardier: 2nd Lt. Eugene Connor,

Engineer / Top Turret Gunner: Sgt. Hugh Mauritho,

Radio Operator: S/Sgt. Herbert E. Yeryar,(1921-1973) IN

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project https://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.

Sources:

https://www.ancestry.com/

https://www.findagrave.com/

www.honorstates.org

www.newspapers.com

https://384thbombgroup.com/