US Army Air Corps 1st Lt. William J. Hawthorne was born in Alabama on January 5, 1923, the son of William Emmitt Hawthorne (1894-1969) and Tennie M. Boutwell (1888-1976). His father was a native of Louisiana but spent most of his life in and around Pensacola. He was a house carpenter by trade and became a contractor in later life. He would marry Tennie M. Boutwell in Pensacola on February 20, 1918. Prior to her marriage she was a clerk for Pensacola's "The Ready to Wear Store" and the daughter of William Burton Boutwell (1856-1957) and Mary Sophronia "Fronie" Godwin (1872-1920).
William was also the great grandson of Private Deloney Burton Boutwell Jr. (1820-1930) who enlisted in the Confederate Army on September 20, 1862. He was a member of Company "M" of the 6th Alabama Infantry Regiment. He was captured on May 3rd, most likely in 1863, although there are no details if he was exchanged or not. His regiment was sent to Virginia and assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia. There, it was engaged in all the battles from Williamsburg to Cold Harbor before their transfer to the Shenandoah Valley. It would return to the Army of Northern Virginia and would surrender at Appomattox.
As for William, he was a carrier for the Pensacola News Journal while he attended and graduated from St. Michael's High School in Pensacola in the class of 1941. The following year he was a messenger at NAS Pensacola before becoming a senior clerk typist. He and his family were living at 51 East Chase Street at the time he enlisted in the US Army Air Corps on June 28, 1942. He would receive his wings on December 5, 1943 at Luke Field in Phoenix, AZ. By August 1944, he had arrived in the Mediterranean combat zone and was assigned to the 95th Fighter Squadron of the 82nd Operations Group as a P-38 fighter pilot. Prior to his arrival, his squadron had completed a huge raid on June 10, 1944 on the oil refineries in Ploiesti, Romania.
On November 1, 1944, Lt. Hawthorne took off in his fighter, nicknamed "Wild Willie" from the Lesina Airfield in Italy. Their mission was to strike the marshaling yards in the town of Szombathely, Hungary, which at the time was helping to supply the German Army’s increasingly desperate fight against the Russians. Bombing the railroad lines and marshalling yards was crucial to destroying the German war effort. Upon arrival, William was leading a flight of P-38's when he dove down to strafe an enemy airfield. Suddenly, he was hit at 1345 hours by intense ground fire. His airplane quickly burst into flames and crashed into the ground. His commanding officer wrote to his parents that there was little hope of survival. The young pilot had only recently been presented with an air medal as well as a promotion to First Lieutenant.
After the war, his remains were returned to Pensacola by request of his family and buried in June 1949 in Barrancas Cemetery.
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