Memorial

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William H. Stovall Jr. attended college.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve at Greenville Army Air Base, Mississippi, on 1 October 1942.

Statement of 2nd Lt Donald C. Armstrong: "I joined Blue Flight when leaving the target area and flew in the #4 position. After the initial bounce on seven FW 190's at approximately 1230 hours, I got in position for a close-in dead astern shot. Just as I opened fire, a P-47 came up through between the enemy aircraft and myself. I saw hits on the P-47's left wing near the root. We both pulled up, and I lost the P-47 under my nose. The next thing I saw was the P-47 split for the deck, and I watched to see when he would pull out, but never did. The plane hit with terrific speed and exploded. No one reported any battle damage after we reached our home base, and Lt Stovall was missing, so I assume that the plane I hit (and) also the one I saw crash was Lt Stovall. This mishap occurred just west of Dummer Lake."

Contrary to what is stated in the MACR, 2nd Lt William H. Stovall Jr. was not killed by friendly fire. He was killed in action over Burgsteinfurt, engaging seven enemy aircraft. His plane had sustained much battle damage, and he had to bail out. He bailed out too low and his parachute did not deploy all the way. He was killed when he hit the ground. He hit or downed at least two enemy aircraft in this engagement before he was killed. It has taken 70 years to correct this mistake.

Lt Stovall was the son of Col William Howard Stovall, who was responsible for manpower and personnel in the 8th Army Air Force and also Deputy Chief of Staff of USSTAF. He drove from Paris to Bergsteinfurt, Germany, leaving on 8 May 1945 to go locate where his son had been buried in Germany.