US Army Air Corp 2nd Lieutenant William "Billy" Henderson McNeil was born in Selma, Alabama in 1921, the son of Henderson McNeil (1893-1975) and Lillian Estelle Wise (1899-1992). William was also the grandson of Daniel Malcolm McNeil and Mary Amanda Henderson from Monroe County, AL. His grandfather enlisted in March 1863 in Company "B" of the Confederate 54th Alabama Infantry Regiment. He missed the Battle of Vicksburg when his regiment joined the Army of Tennessee at Dalton, GA. From there they fought one bloody battle after another enroute to Atlanta till their surrender at Bentonville, NC. He returned to Monroe County, AL as a farmer and married Mary Amanda Henderson in Claiborne on November 27, 1867.
Their son Henderson McNeil was born on their Monroe County farm in 1893 (Monroeville), the last of seven children. By 1917, he had gained employment as a flagman for the L&N Railroad operating on the Pensacola to Selma, AL run. There, he married Lillian Estelle Wise on June 2, 1918 in Selma before transferring to Pensacola as a baggage man sometime before 1930. By 1940, he had risen to baggage master with two children; William Henderson and Helen Louise McNeil living at 111 North Reus Street. Their son William went on to graduate from Pensacola High School in 1939 along with his sister Helen in 1940. After graduation, William took a job as a gas station attendant for the Sherrill Oil Company.
Six weeks after Pearl Harbor, the patriotic young man went out to Ft. Barrancas and enlisted in the US Army Air Corps on January 23, 1942. He was trained as a bombardier and received his commission in October 1942. About this time, he would marry Mary Margaret "Peggy" Moores from the PHS Class of 1940. At the time, her father was a Naval Officer living off base at 1901 West Garden Street and stationed in Pensacola. In March 1943, William was sent overseas and assigned to the 343rd Bomber Squadron of the 98th Heavy Bomber Group. With his wife expecting their first child, William left with a heavy heart as he boarded his father's L&N train where Henderson was the conductor.
On August 1, 1943, the sun dawned bright in a cloudless sky as the bomber crews were heading to their breakfast and briefings. They had no way of knowing that this day would forever be known as "Black Sunday." This mission was called "Operation Tidal Wave" and had been in planning for months. It would involve one of the longest flights through enemy territory in aviation history and the bombers would be coming in at treetop level to bomb the oil refineries of Ploesti, Romania. The antiaircraft fire would be tremendous making heavy losses impossible to avoid. But the high command had determined the effort was worth the risk! Sadly, the aircrews knew the risks as well, but they never flinched to honor their duty as they headed for their individual bombers. The 343rd Bomber Squadron had been assigned the "3rd Wave" position with their target designation White IV, the Astra-Romana oil refinery. The aircraft lined up in takeoff formation and waited for the signal. In that line was the B-24 known as "Margie" and piloted by 1Lt Clarence Winford Gooden from Waycross, GA with his co-pilot 1Lt Jerome Donald Savaria from Chicopee, MA. The remaining officers were navigator 2Lt Ralph F. Perkins from Wausau, Wisconsin, engineer Michael J. Trick from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Pensacolian William "Billy" Henderson McNeil, the bombardier. The specialists on the flight was radio operator TSgt. Theodore C. Beaudry. The gunners were SSgt. Alexander MacDonald Cochrane from Lynn, MA, SSgt. Roland Barrett Cox from Hamilton, OH, SSgt. George H. Kaylor from Manhattan, NY and Cpl Harry Gilbert Deem Jr. from Clarksburg, WV.
The air armada took off and arrived over Ploesti that afternoon having already lost one bomber to a takeoff crash and several to mechanical problems. Lt. Gooden lined up his approach according to his orders before turning the plane over to Lt. McNeil. According to procedure, the bombardier actually flew the aircraft during the bombing run by using a Norden bomb sight connected to the plane's autopilot. McNeil brought his bomber over the White IV refinery, which was under a heavy curtain of smoke from other bombers. He released his bombs then turned control of the "Margie" back over to Gooden. As they turned away from their target they were struck in the nose by a direct hit from a German battery. Unfortunately, a disadvantage of tree top bombing was there was little chance of parachuting to safety from such a low altitude. Gooden had little choice but to belly land his plane in a field as his plane lost what little altitude they had. Lt. McNeil's body was never recovered! His wife and family were notified and soon they received his one box of belongings, which held his diary, photo of his wife and few meager belongings.
Also shot down on this same mission was another Pensacolian, Lt. Fred Huston Jones from Century, Florida. Fred was reported as MIA but later found to be a prisoner of war. In the meantime, the damage to the refineries they hoped for never materialized in that the Germans were able to quickly repair what little there was. In all, 54 bombers were destroyed and over 660 men killed or taken prisoner for very little gain. Because of the carnage, the high command would never again attempt a low-altitude air raid against the Germans.
Miraculously, co-pilot Savaria and engineer Trick survived the crash and were taken prisoner. All other perished, some never identified. The POW's would return home after the war with Savaria passing away in 1999 and Trick in 1979. Gooden's body would be brought home in 1950 and buried in Waycross. Six of the casualties, including Billy McNeil, were from a previous crew aboard the "Dopey" named after one of the Walt Disney's seven dwarfs. In their original ground crew was Amos Nicholson, a talented painter. For some reason, the squadron crewmen were fascinated by the Snow-White theme therefore eight bombers carried their names. The "Dopey" would survive the war only to be scrapped in 1945.
In February 1944, in a ceremony at Brookley Field, Mobile, Lt. McNeil's wife and family were given his Distinguished Flying Cross in lieu of a second Air Medal and the Silver Star. William's sister Helen would hear her father crying in the middle of the night since their bedrooms were next to one another. Because his body was never found, his mother couldn't accept his loss, so she left her front porch light on every single night just in case he came home. A mother's heart will always spring hope that her child will return to her! His niece, Carol Gordon stated that she "misses him and loves him, but never KNEW him! The sadness, the loss, the grieving, the heartache, the not being able to bring him HOME, the waiting, the expectations of MAYBE, just maybe! The day his mother died, they found her bible on her table, opened to “God's’ call” scripture, and her Sunday school lesson was just that. Carol said that she was 94 and had waited and waited, believing one day she could turn that front porch light off, ‘cause her boy was home!"
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