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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. William Bell

William Mark Bell, Jr. was born on October 21, 1921, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, to William Mark Bell and Wilda Rose Stuber. At the age of two, he lost his mother, when Wilda died in 1923 while the family was living in Swissvale, Pennsylvania. After his wife's death, William Mark Bell brought the baby to Sidney, Ohio, where he was raised primarily by his maternal grandparents, John George Stuber and Martha Jane Wilson Stuber. He stayed in Sidney with his grandparents through the third grade. William Mark Bell had remarried to Elsie Goehring. After the third grade, William Mark Bell, Jr. moved back to live with his father and step mother. He went to school in Swissvale through his third year of high school. He graduated high school from the St. Vincent Preparatory School.
On November 2, 1939, William Mark Bell, Jr. Joined the Army Air Corp as a buck private. He knew that he would be a pilot, although at the time that did not seem possible. He was originally stationed at Langley Field, Virginia and trained as a radio operator/mechanic and finally a fighter pilot. He went to flying school as a Sargent Pilot and graduated on November 10, 1942. During his flight training, he went on a blind date with a friend and met Lucille Pritchard Clark. She was not his date that night, but the next day, he asked her to the movies. Lucy pinned his wings on his uniform, when he graduated from flight school. They were married in 1943.
After the United States entered World War II, the fighter pilot casualties were not as great as expected, so William Mark Bell, Jr. was trained as a bomber pilot in B-17's. In 1944, Bill and Lucy's oldest son, William, was born in Elizabeth City, Virginia. In August 1944, Bill was assigned to the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force, 1st Air Division, 94th Combat Wing, 457th Bombardment Group (H), 750th Bombardment Squadron at Station 130, Glatton, England. Lucy and their son moved to Sydney, Ohio, to live with John and Martha Stuber, while Bill Jr. was overseas.
On December 12, 1944, during Mission 748, Bill, Jr.'s 18th combat mission, he joined the Caterpillar Club with the other surviving crew members of the Willie III, when they were forced to bail out over Germany. Bill, Jr. was captured and interned in Stalag Luft 1, a German Prisoner of War camp, near Barth, Germany until April 30, 1945, when the camp was liberated by the Russians. Bill and Lucy were reunited in Sydney, Ohio.
William Mark Bell, Jr. was stationed in Boca Raton, Florida, when a second son, Burke, was born in 1946. He transferred from the Army to the Air Force when it was formed in 1947. The family followed Bill, Jr. to various military bases, including Maxwell AFB at Birmingham, Alabama, Wright Patterson AFB at Dayton, Ohio, Keesler AFB at Biloxi, Mississippi, Bushy Park, England, and McCord AFB at Tacoma, Washington, where a third son, Kevin, was born in 1955. Bill, Jr. joined the Masonic Lodge in Tacoma, becoming a 32 Degree Mason. He later became a Shriner. From Washington, the family followed Bill Jr. to Hamilton Air Force Base in Marin County California and then to Hill Air Force base in Utah. Where, on September 30, 1960, William Mark Bell, Jr. retired a Major in the United States Air Force having served 20 years 10 months.
During his years in the service, Bill Jr. volunteered for every training opportunity that was offered. However, as he closed on retirement and jet pilot training became available, he did not feel it would be a good investment for the United States to spend money training him to pilot jets, so he did not volunteer. However, when he was assigned to jet school, he was overjoyed. The chance to fly jets continued to delight him for the rest of his life.
The day after he retired from the USAF on October 1, 1960, William Mark Bell, Jr. began work as a Quality Assurance Officer in the United States Civil Service. After Minute Man training at the Boeing Corporation, he was assigned to Air Force Quality Assurance on the missile silo project. The family moved to Great Falls, Montana. After a couple of years in Montana, Bill, Jr. was sent to various Minute Man missile sites in North Dakota and finally to the launch facility in Florida. Later, Bill Jr. transferred to the Titan III rocket project at Cape Canaveral. In 1965, their fourth son, Robert, was born on Merritt Island Florida.
William Mark Bell, Jr. worked for the Civil Service 21 years, retiring in 1980. He returned to work as a consultant for a couple of years. However, he finally retired completely after 40 plus years of service to his country.
Bill Jr. loved working with his hands. He built a decorative bridge for the front yard at Lucy's request that was the delight of all the grandchildren. He also designed and made knives from scratch, which were both beautiful and extremely functional. Bill Jr. had an active agile mind that relished learning new things, such as the workings of computers from his sons. He enjoyed reading, particularly Louie L'Amour and Tom Clancy.
Bill Jr. and Lucy loved to travel, visiting friends and relatives all over the world. They joined the Sargent Pilot's Organization and enjoyed going to those reunions, as well as the 457th Bombardment Group reunions, to greet old friends and make new friends. This old warrior died quietly July 12, 2015 at the age of 93.