Memorial

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William Easterly attended college.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Newark, New Jersey on 22 January 1942.

Statement from 2nd Lt Darwin D. McCasland, who flew in the same mission: "On April 11, 1944, I was flying number 3 position in Blow Ball Yellow Flight. Lt Easterly, Blow Ball Yellow Leader, took our Flight down to strafe an airdrome northeast of Leipzig, Germany; probably Mensdorf. We followed another flight of P-51s across the airdrome. We were making our second pass at approximately 1245, and as we crossed the field I noticed Lt Easterly's ship slow up considerably. I throttled back immediately to keep from over-running him. We were at an altitude of approximately 200 feet when his airplane slid off on the left wing and went into some trees at about a seventy-degree angle. His airplane blew up immediately and started burning. In my opinion, Lt Easterly was hit by ground fire, but I did not notice any while we were making our strafe on the airdrome."

One day earlier he had written a letter to his parents saying “If you are thinking of my coming home after I complete my time, you might just as well forget about that because I have already put in for another tour of operational missions… There is still a lot of dirt to sweep out and a lot of rats to exterminate, although a lot of them will probably be pretty mouselike before we’re through.”
He was initially buried by civilians in Wilkendorf, Germany.