About
World War II (1939-1945)
William H. Schermerhorn was born in Saratoga, New York, in 1922. After 1935, he was living in the village of Scotia in Schenectady County. He attended Scotia-Glenville High School and graduated in 1940. After graduation, he began working for the American Locomotive Company.
On June 10, 1942, William enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. He was a staff sergeant serving with the 389th Bomb Group. William was on a mission to bomb a German plant in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, on October 3, 1943, when his team sustained numerous hits, some of which pierced the fuel cells, causing leaks and fires. They had run out of fuel and crashed while on their way to Morocco for repairs. Only one of the fifteen men on board survived. The crew was laid to rest in North Africa before being reburied at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Missouri.
Sources: The Schenectady Gazette, Find A Grave, Ancestry
