Memorial

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1st Lt William O. Pile graduated from Circleville High School in 1938.

He joined the National Guard in Columbus, Ohio on 15 October 1940. He was transferred to the Air Corps in 1942 and commissioned a Second Lieutenant from Blackland Army Air School on 29 July 1943. He received special twin engine training at Del Rio in Texas and at Lake Charles in Louisiana. Before he entered aviation School, he served as a chauffeur for Colonel Harry D. Jackson when he was based at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.

On 1 March 1944, he flew his own crew in a B-26 across the Atlantic.

He was lead pilot of a squadron of B-26 Marauder en route to bomb railroad bridges at Mayen, Germany, when attacked by enemy aircraft. This was his 55th mission.

Statement:
"I was in no. three position in the low flight of the second box, flying at 11,600 feet, 190 m.p.h. Just East of Bastogne, at 0942 hours, our flight was attacked for the second time by four ME 109"s. The flight leader, Lt Pile and Lt Pusateri, flying no. two position, were shot down. Lt Pusateri went down in flames with both engines on fire. Lt Pile was hit in the tail control surfaces and rear part of the ship. He looked fairly well under control as he glided his ship off to the left."

Statement from Warren B. Wade, 2nd Lt, Air Corps:
"Lt Luce thought that Lt Pile had been hooked in his seat and couldn't get out. He was believed to have rode the ship down."

In April 2009, a Department of Defense (DoD) team traveled to Philippsweiler to interview several German locals who recalled an American war-time crash. The team surveyed the possible crash site.

Between June 2010 and July 2011, two DoD recovery teams excavated the suspected crash site, recovering human remains and aircraft wreckage.

Lt Pile's remains were identified and were buried in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. on 10 November 2015.