William C. Minnick

Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Serial: 13114978
740th Bomber Squadron
455th Bomb Group

Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Died: February 25, 1944
Buried at: Grafton National Cemetery
Grafton, West Virginia

Awards: Purple Heart

Technical Sergeant William C. Minnick was born in 1923 in New Jersey to John and Frances Minnick. John Minnick was a refrigeration machinist who moved his family to 3266 48th Street in Pennsauken sometime after 1920. At the time of the 1930 census, the Minnick family included brothers Joseph, Paul, and Robert, and a sister, Frances. William Minnick was a graduate of Merchantville (NJ) High School, where he played football for three years. He enlisted in the United States Army in September of 1942. He attended St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Merchantville.

William Minnick qualified for flight duty and trained as a flight engineer with a B-24 bomber crew that was assigned to the 455th Bombardment Group. The group was constituted as the 455th Bombardment Group (Heavy) United States Army Air Corps (AAC) in May 1943, and was activated the following month. It became an important strategic bombing group in the European Theatre of Operations in the defeat of the German war machine. It trained in the United States with Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers and then moved to Italy during January and February 1944 where it served in Combat beginning in February through war's end in April of 1945. The group shared an improvised aerodrome with the 454th Bomb Group at San Giovanni, about five miles west of Cerignola and 20 miles southwest of Foggia. It engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets such as factories, marshalling yards, oil refineries, storage areas, harbors, and aerodromes. These targets were in France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, and the Balkans.

William Minnick was aboard B-24H #42-52210 which, on February 25, 1944 was listed as missing in action on a raid originating from Italy. The aircraft was recovered in July of 1945 near Graz, Austria. All 10 members of the crew had been killed. Sergeant Minnick was brought home to the United States, and buried at Grafton National Cemetery in Grafton WV in April of 1950.

William Minnick was survived by his parents, who by then were living at 3460 Bethel Avenue in Pennsauken NJ. His death was reported in the July 30, 1945 edition of the Camden Courier-Post.