Wilson Dale Bills, Technical Sergeant, Army Air Corps, 96th Bomber Group,

413th Bomber Squadron, Service Number: 35258446.

Early Life: Wilson was born 17 May 1918 in Indiana. He was the son of Charles Curtis Bills (1876-1948) and Alice Mary Woodsides (1881-??) both of Indiana. His parents were married in Johnson County, Indiana in 1902. He grew up with his nine siblings, Mary Elizabeth 1902, Martha 1904, Cloyd 1907, Robert 1908, Helen 1913, Marjorie 1915, Charles 1920, Susan 1923, and Jane 1929. They were living in Nineveh, Johnson, Indiana in 1920. [1] and were recorded in Blue River of the same county in 1930[2] and in 1935. In 1940 his family was living in Decatur township in Marion County, Indiana.[3]

Education, Career, personal Life: He graduated from Edinburg High School and finished four years of college. He helped his father on their farm until he went to Indianapolis, where he was employed as a lineman with the Indianapolis Power and Light Company. He registered for the draft on ?? in GA? and his physical description was white with ?? complexion, ?? eyes, ?? hair. He was employed by ??, GA. Wilson was married to Elizabeth Aloah Lind (1918-??), daughter of Bert Lind (1881-1942) and Blanche Crecelius (1890-1968) of Indiana, on 6 June 1942 in Biloxi of Harrison county in Mississippi.[4] Wilson and Elizabeth had a daughter named Susan, born in January, 1944, at the Freeman Greene County Hospital.

Military Career: Wilson registered for the draft on 16 Oct 1940 in Indiana. He enlisted at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana on 17 February 1942. [5] According to that record, Mike's civilian occupation was an electricians apprentice and his marital status was single, without dependents, entering as a private, serial number 35258446.

Wilson reported for duty ?? 194?. His training as an aeronautical engineer was in various places such as Utah, Idaho, Texas and Oregon. This is indirectly known because of the history gathered about the 413th Bombardment Squadron in the 96th Bombardment Group to which he was eventually assigned. Training may have been in Salt Lake City, Utah, or Gowen Field and Pocatello Army Air Base, both in Idaho, but at least one of his crewmates trained at Kelly Field in Texas and Pendelton Field in Oregon are specifically mentioned in newspapers.

96th Bombardment Group during World War II

The group was first activated in July 1942 at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah as the 96th Bombardment Group, with the 337th, 338th, 339th and 413th Bombardment Squadrons assigned as its original components. After moving to Gowen Field, Idaho the group received its initial cadre. In November 1942 the group moved to Pocatello Army Air Base, Idaho, where it acted as an Operational Training Unit (OTU). OTUs were oversized parent units that provided cadres to form "satellite groups." In early 1943, the 96th relocated to Pyote Army Air Base, Texas, where it resumed its combat training. In April 1943 the group began its overseas movement.

The group arrived at RAF Grafton Underwood England in May 1943, for duty with Eighth Air Force. The group was assigned to the 45th Combat Bombardment Wing of the 3d Bombardment Division. The group commenced combat operations on 14 May with an attack on Kortrijk (Courtrai), after an aborted mission the previous day. The 96th moved east at the end of May to RAF Andrews Field. The 96th appears to have only carried out one mission while based at Andrews. On 29 May 1943 they took part in a raid on Rennes naval storage depot from which one B-17 failed to return. The 96th took the 386th's place at Snetterton Heath the following day, leaving its previous base available for the 322d Bombardment Group. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/96th_Test_Wing

Location: AAF Station #138 (Snetterton Heath), Command: 8th AF, Group: 96th, Squadron: 338th Bomb. Established as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber squadron; trained under Second Air Force. Deployed to European Theater of Operations (ETO), assigned to VIII Bomber Command in England, Flew combat missions over Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe. After some 300 missions from Snetterton Heath, the 96th Bomb Group left for the USA during November-December 1945. https://www.americanairmuseum.com/place/330

VIII Bomber Command

28 July 1943

The German aircraft industry at Kassel (Fieseler works) and Oscherleben, Germany were the primary targets of this mission. The second element was a combined force of 120 B-17s from: 94BG (18); 95BG (20); 96BG (21); 100BG (21); 385BG (26); and 388BG (14) were dispatched to bomb the AGO Flugwerke Fw 190 factory at Oschersleben, Germany. Weather frustrated bombing efforts and only 28 of this formation were able to effectively bomb the primary. 8 aircraft from 95BG attacked Grossalsleben by mistake through a gap in the cloud cover. A total of 15 B-17s Failed to Return (FTR); 7 of these were from 96BG. 90KIA 55POW 1DIC 5EVD. The bomber gunners claimed 56-19-41 of the attacking enemy aircraft. https://www.americanairmuseum.com/place/1697

Death: A newspaper article from the Columbus Herald on 6 September 1944 says that Wilson died on his first and last mission on a B-17 bomber. This may mean that he did not train with his fellow crewmates, was in a class that finished later, and had only recently joined his crew shortly before this mission. The last letter that his family received was dated 27 July 1943, the day before he was killed, in which he stated, “We are getting ready for action.”

Mission #18 - July 28, 1943:

Oschersleben, Germany

“The dark, leadened skies which shrouded Snetterton Heath at dawn were to portend tragedy. The group dispatched 21 Forts as early as 0545. The weather cursed climb-and-form-up procedures throughout the Wing. Everyone's timing was off. Briefing had planned the Wing as follows: the 388th would lead with the 100th low and the 96th high. But groups were late. Rendezvous points were missed. Emerging at last into the wild blue, the 96th found the Wing to be stretched to Kingdom Come. With as much speed as possible, the 96th struck out for the planned target, the Folke Wulf assembly plant some 80 miles from Berlin. Oschersleben would set a new distance record…

“Many Americans were flying their fourth mission in five days. They had been exhausted before they took off this morning. Not so the Germans. They were secure in the knowledge that they could always land, reload, refuel and continue the battle. Today's clash displayed remarkable Luftwaffe teamwork. Germans bounced out of the clouds on Lt. Steve Hettrick's 338th A/C 42-30401. The first pass reduced Hettrick's airspeed just enough to isolate him for the second pass. The crew bailed out over the North Sea; there are still no known survivors. A similar fate awaited Lt. Hugh Moore's 413th crew in 42-3326, Moore Fidite. Then the next crew to suffer casualties was that of Lt. Gene Wilcox in the 339th's 42-30351, Alcohol Annie…

“When the final toll was taken, it was revealed that 7 aircraft failed to return to Snetterton. Listed as MIA were the crews of Lts. Deshotels, Covert, Wilcox, Moore, Hettrick, Nance and Capt. Fulton. (Five of the Wilcox crew would be returned by Air-Sea Rescue.) Even so, by "lights out" there were seventy empty cots at Snetterton. In fact, the 96th had sustained the highest losses of both the 1st and 4th Bomb Wings. Some of those empty cots motivated Bill Thorns' diary entry: "Clouds broke up formations and enemy fighters accounted for a good many planes." https://www.rumboogiecrew.com/mission18july281943

Burial and Awards: Wilson’s remains were never recovered and were never officially buried. He does, however have his name engraved on the Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial at Coton, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England. He was postumously awarded the purple heart, air medal, 2 oak leaf clusters (D.N. 11-30-43) Engineer. Note: 2ND LT 96TH BOMB GP AAF[6]

Sources

"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 saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read their story.”

Wilson D Bills