William H. "Sarge" Rich

March 17, 1921 – October 2, 2022

From the 95th BG Memorials Foundation Facebook page:

With heavy hearts, the Memorials Foundation and the Heritage Association announce that William Horace Rich of Williston, FL, left formation on 2 October 2022, aged 101 years. William, better known as “Sarge,” was a 412th toggler/waist gunner. John Mollison passed along word of his loss. Sarge passed away peacefully in in Williston. Folded wings.

Sarge was born on 17 March 1921 in Asheville, NC, where he was raised. After enlisting in April 1942, he went at mechanic school at Keesler Field, MS, and then attended gunnery school at Camp Seven-Mile, Spokane, WA. After Spokane, Sarge helped build a gunnery school at Blythe, CA, where he instructed other gunners. Thereafter, he joined the Roy Squyres’s 412th crew with whom he flew his missions. Sarge published his memoirs in a 109-page private printing entitled “All Out for Freedom” (2004).

As Sarge’s obituary states, “A memorial service to honor Sarge will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2022, at the Williston Church of God beginning at 10:30 AM. Pastors Keith Langford and Wes Smith will officiate.”