Born January 10, 1929 died January 28, 1953
Several times a year, but especially around the end of May on Memorial Day, we take time out to remember Bill. He was our Mimi's younger brother, who was shot down over N. Korea and has never been returned to the US.
This year I thought I would take the time to get to know him a little better. Mimi has spoken about him many times, but Hank and Karen never really got to know him, because he died before either of them was born. In fact, Mimi was seven months pregnant with Karen when they got the telegram. Which is a story in and of itself.
Like Mimi, Bill was born in Pine Bluff, Ark. to John W. and Ruby Elliot Stauffer. He was 5 years younger than his sister "Sug", and she decided he was her new play toy. She loved him immensely and they were very close throughout the 24 years of his life. Partners in crime you might say.
Bill was active in sports and music, playing both football and basketball, as well as playing the trumpet in high school. He was not a great student, but graduated in 1947, from Pine Bluff High School.
He always helped "Sug" with her dancing studio and helped her put on her dance recitals. He would help with scenery, heavy lifting, go-phering, and often danced in the recitals, when a partner was needed for one of the girls.
One of his friends from high school relayed a story once about how he and Bill wanted to buy this old truck, but the engine wasn't working; so Pappy came over and attached the truck to his car with a rope and towed it to their house where he helped Bill and this friend rebuild the engine and they drove that truck all over SE Ark for years.
He attended Arkansas Tech and Arkansas State College, and afterwards moved to Memphis when his parents moved there in 1949. He worked part time at Goldsmith's Department Store, for a time before entering the Air Force in 1951.
He entered basic training in Greenville, Miss, where he met a young lady named Lydia Ross, who was a nursing student in Greenville. He entered flight training in Big Springs, Texas where he graduated in August 10, 1952. He and Lydia were married a few days later. He spent time training in Las Vegas, and then he was assigned to go to Korea in December.
I believe it was while he was stationed in Las Vegas that he met one of his heros, Ziggy Elfman who was a trumpet player with the Benny Goodman band. He must have impressed the man well enough, because Ziggy gave him a doeskin sport coat. Hank used to wear it, when we first met, until the housekeeper, Rosie, accidentally washed it in the washing machine. I'll never forget how Mimi cried when she threw that coat into the trash, it was ruined. I probably would have kept it anyway, tried to dry it out, but we didn't think of it at the time.
Anyway, Bill arrived in Seoul, South Korea on December 22, 1952, the letters he wrote home on December 30th, 1952 and January 18, 1953, did not give away any of his activities over there, just explanations of his daily life like having to walk three buildings over from his quarters to shave and shower everyday and don't complain about the cold in Memphis because it was way too cold in Seoul, he did not feel sorry for them at home at all. Those kinds of things.
His letters show his personality somewhat, he always opened his letters with the word "People" not Dear Mom or Hi Mom and Pappy, just "People". too funny. But always closed with love, Bill. And there was a Christmas card that he had sent home and attached a 2 dollar bill to it, and he signed the card "2$Bill."
But what we know now is that he was flying patrols almost daily over the area called MIG Alley.
On the day he was killed, January 28 1953, they were in a dog fight with several Russian MIGs, the explanation of his actual death is unclear as to if he was shot down by one of the MIG's, by friendly fire or if he lost consciousness, but they only know he crashed into the Yalu River. At first, they thought he might have ejected, but after searching the area for several days, it was determined he was killed in the crash.
There is a military arm that hunts for servicemen who are killed behind enemy lines, and we have been getting reports from them periodically. There is a report showing the MIG pilots' debriefing account of the battle, in Russian, with a translation in English. They believe they shot him down along with another American plane, but Bill's was the only casualty in that particular incident.
Pappy always believed that Bill knew he was going to crash; so he deliberately crashed into a bridge over the Yalu River, as a last act of defiance, but there is no proof of that. All we know for sure is that his remains have never been returned to us, and we pray for that day when we can bury him on American soil.
Sometime in 2017, Karen attended one of the briefing conferences in New Orleans, and she asked specifically if Bill was due any medals or citations. after a few months, she received six medals and ribbons in the mail. We had the purple heart already, but the 5 others were a surprise. She has since had them mounted in a frame for Mimi.
Among the many clippings and letters of condolences, we have both of the telegrams one from January 29th, notifying Bill's parents of his missing in action and then the one from February 1st notifying them that he was killed in action. We are not sure which one it was, but Mimi tells the story that she, Mommy, Pappy and Henry, were returning from being out to dinner when they found the telegram stuck to the front door of the house on Shawnee. Imagine the shock! When Karen relayed this story at the MIA/KIA conference, several people agreed that this was not unusual, that it had happened to them.
We also have a telegram that was sent on February 14th, allegedly from Bill wishing his family a Happy Valentines Day. I guess the service did this automatically, without checking to see if he was still alive on Valentines Day. I can only imagine how sad this was for Mommy to read.
Also, the Commercial Appeal Newspaper received the notice of Bill getting to Korea in the same packet that it received his death notice. Fortunately, someone caught it and did not run the first one but returned it to Mommy and Pappy, with their sympathies.
Whenever I think about Mommy and how painful this was for her, it makes me cry. She never talked about Bill, in fact no one ever mentioned him in her presence, that I can remember. I guess when he died she just threw herself into what was left of her family. Pappy talked about him all the time, but never in front of Mommy. It was a hole in her world that could never be filled. She died 24 years almost to the day after him, on January 27th 1977. sad.
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