Born 7 June 1931
Buried at McPheeters Bend Cemetery, Church Hill, TN
Private First Class Click was a passenger on a C-82 transport with the 60th Motor Vehicle Squadron at Rhine Main Air Force Base. His aircraft was enroute from Rhine Main to Bordeaux, France when it crashed on Mt. Dore near Bordeaux, killing all 36 on board.
The Kingsport Times, November 15, 1951
Pfc. William C. (Bill) Click, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Cooper Click, Route 2, was among the 36 persons aboard a U.S. Air Force plane which crashed in the mountains Tuesday while on a flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Bordeaux, France. Rescue teams reported from Lyons, France, today that all aboard the C-82 transport were killed. The wreckage was sighted 5,000 feet up the mountainside near Lyons, 250 miles south of Paris, by a French search plane. Two American search planes then circled the side and directed ground searchers to it. The rescuers said the plane was battered to pieces and was crusted with snow. There were no signs of life, they added. The rescue team said they had to climb through a tree-foot layer of snow to reach the scene of the crash. Two French teams and an American squad had fought snow and ice on the high flanks of the big peak yesterday and today in an effort to locate the plane. The search was quickened by the finding last night of a scrap of charred paper which was identified as part of a U.S. Air Force training certificate belonging to one of the men aboard the plane. Those aboard included 30 passengers – 29 airmen destined for the big U.S. supply base at Bordeaux and one soldier returning there from leave in Germany, and six crewmen.
Pfc. Click’s parents received official notice of his death Wednesday evening when the message was telephoned from Kingsport. The telegram delivered Thursday morning along with a letter from the young soldier. Pfc. Click volunteered for service in the Armed Forces Christmas, 1950, while a senior in Church Hill High School. He received his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, and at an Air Force base in Cheyenne, Wyo. Following a short furlough beginning the latter part of May, he left for Germany June 22, 1951, and was stationed with the ground forces, 60th Motor Vehicle Squadron at Rhein Main AFB, Frankfurt. He had recently received a letter of appreciation from his commanding officer for courteous services rendered an officer and his wife when their car broke down and Pfc. Click and two other soldiers repaired the damaged vehicle.
He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Click, two brothers, Jimmy Click and Pat Click, and his maternal grandmother, Mrs. W.L. Arnold, all of Church Hill.
- Rank: Private First Class
- Date of birth: 7 June 1931
- Date of death: 13 November 1951
- County: Hawkins
- Hometown: Church Hill
- Service Branch: Air Force
- Division/Assignment: 60th Motor Vehicle Squadron
- Conflict: Korean War
- Awards: National Defense Service Medal
- Burial/Memorial Location: McPheeters Bend Cemetery, Church Hill, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XX, Bottom Panel
- Contact us to sponsor William C. Click
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