SSG William Turner comes home

Someone sent us a link to the story of Staff Sergeant William Turner who made the journey home to Tennessee from the Netherlands after his B-26 bomber, nicknamed “Hell’s Fury”, went down on December 13, 1943 on a bombing run from Essex, England to Amsterdam.

Only the plane’s pilot, Ray Sanford, survived the crash, but spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp.

From The Tennessean;

The remains of six crew members were recovered, but only two crew members were able to be identified between 1946 and 1949, according to a release from the state. Unidentifiable remains from that crash and another crash were buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Jan. 29, 1951.

Turner’s earthly remains will be interred on Tuesday, August 22nd;

[Tennessee Governor, Bill] Haslam has declared a day of mourning and ordered flags at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Tuesday, Aug. 22 in Turner’s honor.

Graveside service will be at the Nashville National Cemetery at 1420 Gallatin Pike S, Madison, at 10 a.m. (CDT) on Aug. 22.

Turner is survived by his cousins Linda Tinsley of Murfreesboro, Jeff Kemper of Smithville, and Rita Williams of Cottontown.

Category: We Remember