William Coleman is one in which the entire family can take pride. He was a hero in two theaters of operation during World War II, and gave his life in the service of his country. Graduated from Yazoo City High School and attended Mississippi State. After his father's death in 1939, he terminated his college education to manage the family farm. Leaving the farming operations to his brothers, he joined the Air Corps as a student pilot and received his wings and commission in April, 1941. He left San Francisco on 1 Nov 1941 and arrived at Clark Field, Manila, Philippines Islands only a few days before the Japanese began the attack that started World War II. While in Mississippi enroute to his new assignment, he was interviewed by Elsie May Chambers. From the Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, MS, 5 Nov 1942, we find the following exerpts: "He saw his buddies killed and captured. Out of the 42 fliers who left San Francisco with him a year ago, only two are back in the States now. He tells modestly of the fighting in which his group of pursuit fighters sunk a Jap transport. There was only one way to do it, and that was to fly down as close to the boat as possible and with machine guns hit something that would explode and blow up the ship. They did just that, but the squadron commander and close friend of Coleman's lost the left wing of his plane and dived into Manila Bay." 1LT Coleman flew one of the last US fighter planes in the Manila area, and when it was destroyed, he fought as an infantryman on Bataan. In the interview by Ms. Chambers, he said, "Actually being under fire is not as bad as the anticipation of it. But the man who says he is not afraid, has just not been there. You are scared to death; but you don't run, you stand there and take it, and fight back, and then you get so mad you can do anything." Quoting more exerpts from the interview: "He mentions when asked closely, of most difficult missions that took him into the enemy occupied territory, of travel that was so dangerous that he had to crawl on hands and knees for miles and so quietly that he dared not snap even a twig. He tells of seven days and nights that he did not dare close his eyes for a minute's sleep. "There was little food during those days; lizzards, acorns, insects, were good, and supplemented rice boiled in salty ocean water, prevented utter starvation. Lieut. Coleman lost weight from 158 to 117, and many of the boys were so weak that they could not hold their rifles to their shoulders, but still they shot them almost by superhuman effort. "And then came the escape when all hope for holding Bataan was abandoned. An old Amphibian, two-passenger plane provided the means for Lieut. Coleman and five other officers to flee from the bloody foxholes of Bataan. "The men stripped off most of their clothes, shoes, threw their guns away, to lighten the load on the crowded ship which none of them were sure would take them away. But the once-sunk ship rose to take them to freedom, and the Japs were shooting at them when they took off. Five minutes later, they would have been prisoners of war. "They managed to make it to a nearby island and stayed there several days to further repair their plane, and then took off for the southern-most island of the Philippines, Mindanao, where he stayed for three weeks and did reconnaissance flights for General Sharp. Near exhaustion when they took off, the officers took turns piloting the re-claimed ship, and how it ever managed to carry the six of them 550 miles seems a miracle even yet to Lieut. Coleman. "Coleman said he was so hungry when he got to Mindanao that he ate 11 eggs without stopping, and the last one was still good. On May 1 the group left the Philippines in a good U.S. bomber and arrived in Brisbane, Australia soon after. Most of the summer--it was winter there-- was spent in first one hospital and then another. Lieut. Coleman didn't get a scratch so to speak in the battles, but malaria got him and kept him in bed practically three or four months. "During the whole year, Lieut. Coleman said he had been able to get only ten letters from his home folks. There were nine months that he did not hear a word from home, and he figures those were the hardest nine months of his life. "Lieut. Coleman paid tribute to the R.O.T.C. at State College when he said that if it had not been for the training he got during his three years there, he could never have pulled through this last year, and he said he hoped that all schools would inaugurate some form of military training." After being gone from the States for almost exactly one year, he was assigned to Drew Field in Florida as a combat instuctor. He was not satisfied being an instructor, and requested assignment overseas. He was sent to England and was the commander of a fighter squadron that participated in numerous engagements over Europe. Virginia Irwin, a War Correspondent, filed a story with the St. Louis paper, the Post-Dispatch, from an advance fighter base. The following exerpts are from a clipping supplied by the Coleman family. (A date of Aug. 15, 1944 is written on the margin of the clipping -- this was the date of the final mission.): "In one afternoon the group made fighter-bomber history. They destroyed 660 German vehicles and damaged 114 more in a terrific attack that destroyed transportation of an entire German division. This total has never been approached by a single group of Thunderbolts of this size. "This group is known as Col. Robert L. Delashaw's Thunderbolt group. One of its three squadrons is called Kinne's Kraut Krushers after their squadron leader, Maj. Frederick K. Kinne of San Diego, Cal.; another is called Jenkins' Jerry Junkers after Squadron Leader Capt. Ralph Jenkins of Seattle, and third is called Coleman's Rekky Kids (for reconnaissance) after Squadron Leader Maj. William Coleman of Yazoo City, Miss. "Among the flyers of Coleman's Rekky Kids is Lt. Billy Hasty of University City, Mo. Billy flies tail-end Charlie in his squadron, a tough spot and one that no pilot relishes. "'I'm wearing a two sizes larger collar than I did on civvy street,' he told me yesterday. 'You see, when the Jerries jump a flight they always come in from the back. My neck gets plenty of exercise because I'm continually turning around to see if there are any Jerries behind me.' "When I talked to Billy his squadron had just come in from an armed reconnaissance mission. An armed rekky mission is one where the squadron is given a certain hunk of Jerry territory to fly over and told to pick their own targets. These screwball flyers call these targets of fortune. They fly over a certain piece of German-held territory, spot headquarters and blow it off the map, or see a marshalling yard, go down and mop up German locomotives and goods or ammunition cars. The fact that such targets are always strongly protected by antiaircraft gun emplacements seems to heighten the sport of the mission. The men talk a good deal about flak but they never let it stop them when they decide to bomb or strafe a target. "It was on second day of big push southward that this fighter-bomber group made history. There was low overcast and the Jerries thought Thunderbolts wouldn't get out, but the Thunderbolts got going early and as Maj. Coleman says, 'I been to a couple of church socials and few country fairs but I never had as much fun as I did that day.' "This Thunderbolt group was flying armored-column cover when the lead tank called in. In fact it was no less personage than a General on the phone when Coleman switched in. "'That General was as excited as a kid turned loose in a candy factory,' Coleman laughs. 'He was fairly yelling. He said 'Look, son, there's a convey of Jerry horse-drawn artillery giving us trouble.' "Coleman led his squadron in for the kill and shot up a convoy of 50 vehicles before other squadrons started yelling to save something for them. "'Hell,' laughs Coleman, 'there was enough for everybody. I even got generous and phoned division and told them to send in all groups they could before that skirmish was over.' "Col. Deleshaw's fighting fools had chalked up a record of 660 German vehicles destroyed and 114 more damaged. That same day an aide to a German corps commander was captured. When asked where his commanding General was, he replied, "The last time I saw him he was crawling through bushes.' "'When we finished the show that day,' Coleman laughed, 'I phoned the General and gave him a blow-by-blow description of what had happened. When I'd finished I said, 'Thanks for the target, General,' and the General said, 'Not at all, son, just any old time, glad to oblige.' "'The old idea of the fighter's natural work was to protect our bombers in offensive action against enemy aircraft,' Col. Delashaw explained, 'but it has now been proved very effective against enemy ground installations. In this French campaign we have been helping the Army to move by giving G.I. Joe close support.' Ms. Irwin goes on to say, "The nearest way I can describe the atmosphere of this base is to say that it is a madhouse, with precision fighter-bombers standing warmed up, ready to take off as preceding flights return from their missions. The noise and dust from slapped-down runways is indescribable and there's something happening every minute. "On the wall of the messhall was the squadron motto: 'Truck and tank-busting a specialty, we trim trees with ease, no pass too difficult, reasonable rates, discounts on large orders.' "Screwball, sure, but it takes lads like these to put a whole German division out of order in a few hours." In another clipping supplied by the Coleman family members is a picture with a cut-line: "Her Husband Killed -- Mrs. William G. Coleman of Carter, Miss., accepts the Air Medal and Silver Star in behalf of her husband. Major William G. Coleman, was killed in action in the European Theater August 15, 1944. The presentation was made by Lt. Thomas H. Masterdon, Troop Training Officer at Jackson Army Air Base. "Major Coleman, 24 years old, attended Yazoo City High School and Mississippi State College, entering the service on September 1, 1940. His achievements as a flyer were outstanding, and he was awarded the Air Medal on twelve separate occasions."