Captain William M. Downey joined the army as a private after the attack at Pearl Harbor. Although a high school graduate, he performed so well on the battery of tests administered by the army that he was selected for flight training and officer cadet school. He completed both successfully and was deployed to Christchurch, England as a fighter pilot in the 9th Air Corps where he flew P-47 Thunderbolts escorting bombers on missions over Europe.

He was shot down in Northern France two days before D-Day, on June 4, 1944. He avoided capture for days but was found by German soldiers and imprisoned in Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany. He was marched to a POW camp in January of 1943 and was ultimately liberated by General Patton's forces.

- The Downey Family