Captain Robert L. Williams
19th Bombardment Group (19th BG), 30th Bombardment Squadron (30th BS)
Pilot B-17F Flying Fortress 41-24427 Missing In Action (MIA) September 15, 1942

Background
Robert L. Williams was born December 5, 1918 to parents James Langston Manning Williams and Kate Jenelle (née Wood) Williams in Pauline, South Carolina. Williams graduated Spartanburg High School class of 1936 and was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point . Williams graduated with the class of 1940 was was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with serial number O-023070.

Assigned to the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC), he was stationed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for flight training and earned his wings. He met Helen Meredeth Wilson of Tuscaloosa and the couple married on October 12, 1940. Afterwards, the couple moved to Maxwell Airfield. On June 20, 1941 became part of the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF). During March 1941, he was stationed at McDill Airfield when the couple had their first and only child, Robert Lamar Williams, Jr.

Wartime History
Assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group (19th BG), 30th Bombardment Squadron (30th BS) as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot. In early 1942, piloted B-17E Flying Fortress 41-2507 via the "Africa Route bound for Java. On February 19, 1942 arriving over Java with B-17E 41-2500, the pair spotted a formation of Japanese bombers returning from a mission and engaged, claiming one shot down but B-17E 41-2500 was damaged but both bombers reached Bandoeng Airfield on western Java. On February 20, 1942 Williams flew his bomber to Singosari Airfield on eastern Java. The pair were the last B-17E Flying Fortress pilots to arrive in Java and participated in the Java campaign until withdrawing to Australia.

Mission History
On September 15, 1942 at 5:30pm took off piloting B-17F Flying Fortress 41-24427 from 7 Mile Drome near Port Moresby piloted by Captain Robert L. Williams as one of nine B-17s on a night bombing mission against Rabaul. After take off, no further contact was made with this bomber. On September 16, 1942 at 1:30am, when this B-17 failed to return, it was officially listed as Missing In Action (MIA).

Memorials
Williams was was officially declared dead on January 7, 1946. He earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart, posthumously.

Williams is memorialized at Manila American Cemetery on the tablets of the missing.

He also has a memorial marker with the epitaf "Pro Deo et Patria", Latin meaning "For God and Country" at an unknwon location.

Relatives
Helen Partridge (née Wilson, widow of Williams passed away February 13, 2018)
Robert L. Williams, Jr. (son of Williams)

References
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - Robert L. Williams
FindAGrave - Robert L. Williams (photo, memorial marker photo, tablets of the missing photo)
FindAGrave - Robert L. Williams (National WWII Memorial)
Fortress Against The Sun (2001) pages 133 (Feb 20, 1942 arrival Java), 248 (September 15, 1942), 391 (41-24427), 438 (footnotes 24, 25)
Demopolis Times "Memorial Day: Time to remember Read" May 30, 2005
"This Memorial Day, Helen Partridge of Demopolis will be honoring not one, but two veterans. The twice-widowed woman lost her first husband in World War II, and many years later married another veteran."
Thanks to Steve Birdsall, Edward Rogers and William Bartsch for additional information

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