Brunner, Billy W. - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Formal presentation of awards made posthumously to Sgt. Bill W. Brunner, lost in action in World War II, will be made his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Vern Brunner, 413 west Market street at 11 o'clock Sunday morning Nov. 21, at the headquarters of the 2466th Air Force Reserve Training center at Stout field, in Indianapolis. The awards will be presented by the Air Force officer of the unit at the field. Awards to be presented include those of the Air Medal, with one Oak Leaf cluster, the Purple Heart; the American Campaign Medal; World War II Victory medal; Asiatic-Pacific campaign medal with two Bronze service stars for battle participation in the air offensive on Japan and in the western Pacific campaigns; the Good Conduct medal, the Marksman badge and the Distinguished Unit Emblem. Sgt. Brunner, 20 years of age, lost his life in the Pacific war theater while flying his 11th mission on a B-29 Superfortress April 16, 1945. The bomber took off' from its base on Guam, with a full crew of 12 men aboard, on a mission to bomb Kawasaki, in Japan. Following the take-off, no word was ever received from the bomber and the wreckage was never located. It was not until a year later that Brunner was declared officially dead and the date of death given as April 16, 1945, the day of his final mission. Sgt. Brunner enlisted June 23. 1943 in the Air Corps a few weeks after his graduation from Crawfordsville high school, with the class of 1943. He had training in Air Corps training camps at Miami Beach, Fla.; Clemson, S. C.; Panama City, Fla., and Great Bend, Kans., before leaving for active duty in the Pacific Feb. 9, 1945. He was assigned to the 18th bomb group of the 93rd bomb squadron, a part of the 20th U. S. Air Force, based at Guam. In high school, Brunner played guard on the football team three years, winning three letters. He was survived by his parents and one sister, Arlene Brunner.