Williams Leland V.

Monuments

Name:

Leland V. Williams

Rank:

First Lieutenant

Serial Number:

AO-686293

Unit:

7234 Food Service Squadron

Date of Death:

1948-07-08

State:

Texas

Cemetery:

Elmwood Memorial Park, Abilene, Texas

Plot:

Fountain Section H 3 (5)

Row:

Grave:

Decoration:

Comments:

Leland V. Williams was born on March 6, 1920 in Tuscola, Texas. He was the son of Otis Williams and Rosa Pearl Williams. During the Berlin Airlift, Leland was one of the pilots of the C-47 #43-48256 "Gooney Bird" aircraft. The C-47, fully loaded with goods for Berlin, that was shut off from supplies because of the Soviet blockade, seemed to have had problems climbing fast enough to clear the Taunus hills and hit the first peak, the Steinkopf, at 2200 hours. It is about 2km North of the City of Koenigstein. The reason for the crash is not known. 1LT Williams is buried now in the Elmwood Memorial Park, Abilene, Taylor County, Texas, USA.

Aboard C-47 #43-48256 were:
1LT George B. Smith
1LT Leland V. Williams
Karl von Hagen (civilian, Department of the Army)

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.steel-toys.com