The 17-year old graduate of Clifton Forge High School, class of 1938 landed a job in Charleston, WV. The position dealt with the cost of building a pipeline from Kentucky to West Virginia. As the job was winding down, threats of world conflict prompted the U.S. Congress to pass the ‘Selective Service Act’ in September 1940.
Since he was now 19, Bill registered for the ‘draft’ but following the required physical examination, he was turned down due to cardiac atrial fibrillation (AFib). Disappointed and with no job prospects, he made an appeal to then Ohio Senator BobTaft. Strings were pulled and Bill was removed from 4-F classification.
In the spring of 1942 Bill Overstreet was inducted into the United States Army Air Force in Charleston. Sent to training bases in California and Luke AFB in Arizona, his wings were pinned on in May 1943. He was ordered to San Francisco where the 357th Fighter Group consisting of recent flight school grads was formed. The pilots and their P-51 Mustang aircraft were sent to an airfield near Leiston, England. He named his plane, ‘Berlin Express’.
The skills of this intrepid pilot and his fellow airmen were about to be unleashed on the unsuspecting pilots of the Luftwaffe. The 357th, consisting of about 50 planes left on their second mission in the fall of 1943 and encountered 500 German planes, both Messerschmitt ME-109’s and Focke-Wulf 190’s, formidable aircraft flown by experienced German combat pilots. The 357th Fighter Group survived this mission and went on to be credited with shooting down more than 700 enemy aircraft in WWII.
During his deployment to England, Lt. Overstreet flew more than 100 missions with the Army Air Force. Bill was selected to fly another 100 missions for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA. During his daring engagements, he was shot down twice and was forced to make a crash landing after a railcar laden with ammunition exploded just below his aircraft.
On one occasion, after parachuting from his disabled plane, he was taken prisoner by German Storm Troopers. While transferring him to another location, he attacked his captors with a wrench, rendering them unconscious. Removing their lifeless bodies he drove off with the vehicle and hid in a distant village until he was rescued with the help of allied sympathizers using radios and codes.
His most celebrated triumph was when he damaged an ME 109 at 30,000 feet causing the pilot to dive to an altitude just above the ground, flying under the venerable Eiffel Tower in Paris. Bill pursued the enemy plane, finishing him off with machine gun fire as they emerged from the Tower.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Bill was in the deep overcast over Normandy for 17 hours supporting our troops. In his more than 200 sorties over enemy territory, Bill had many life-threatening episodes too numerous to mention. He has a drawer full of Medals including The Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air Medals, the French Legion of Honor and Honorary Medals from Russia, Yugoslavia and Belgium.
This information was the result of an interview with Mr. Overstreet at his home in Roanoke just two days after Memorial Day this year. First declared 145 years ago and originally called Decoration Day, the holiday has become a time for celebration not just of those who have died but also for the disabled and heroes like Bill who categorically denies this label.
Although war leaves scars of colossal destruction and an appalling waste of precious life, even the Holy Bible predicts that war and threats of war will be omnipresent: Ecclesiastes 3:8 “There is a time for war, and a time for peace.” In Matthew 24:8: “And you shall be hearing of wars and rumors of wars.” And there will be dauntless men and women like Bill Overstreet to wager their lives against all odds.
– Dick Baynton