William Colgan was born in Quitman, Georgia. In 1930, when Colgan was only 10 years old, his father died, leaving his mother to raise him and his two brothers and a sister. He lived with various relatives and graduated from high school. He did not go to college, but found a job during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. He worked at various places, but then began playing professional baseball in the minor leagues. During the winter he worked on the railroad. He and a friend were driving to visit some girls when he first heard the news of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He went to armament school in Denver [Annotator’s Note: Denver, Colorado]. He gathered all the papers he needed to apply for pilot school. He took an IQ test and passed. He worked as an instructor and played baseball until he was called to pilot school. Colgan always wanted to fly when he met Charles Lindbergh [Annotator’s Note: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist] with his father. He had two months of preflight, ground school, and physical training in San Antonio [Annotator’s Note: San Antonio, Texas]. During primary training, he flew PT-19 [Annotator's Note: Fairchild PT-19 primary trainer aircraft]. After 60 hours of flight time, he received his wings and became a pilot. In August 1943, he was shipped overseas. He flew from Miami [Annotator’s Note: Miami, Florida] to North Africa in a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber].

William Colgan served overseas with the 79th Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Group, 12th Air Force and flew in P-40s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft]. His first mission was bombing Salerno [Annotator’s Note: Salerno, Italy]. He landed back at the base with no fuel left. He flew several missions to Salerno after his first. He was scared on his first mission because he was so busy. He experienced his first flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] while he did missions to Salerno. After 20 missions, he was given the role of flight commander to lead a mission to bomb a bridge and strafe to support the Army’s ground forces. He was told that they had to have radio silence throughout the whole mission to Yugoslavia to bomb three ships. When his group found the ships, they dive bombed their target, but missed. Colgan then gave orders to strafe the ships. He was able to guide his group home, but was disappointed about the outcome of the mission. He later learned that all the ships had been destroyed. They had caught fire from the strafing. In January 1944, Colgan and his group were sent to Naples [Annotator’s Note: Naples, Italy] to support the landing at Anzio [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Anzio, 22 January to 5 June 1944; Anzio, Italy]. He fought against German fighter pilots. He was in heavy combat, but was able to complete his mission successfully. Colgan did not hate the Germans and respected the fact that the Germans did not shoot at crewman that had to parachute out of their planes.

William Colgan served overseas with the 79th Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Group, 12th Air Force and flew in P-40s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft] through the Anzio Campaign [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Anzio, 22 January to 5 June 1944; Anzio, Italy], and then switched to flying the P-47 [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft]. There were many differences between the two planes. For example, there were more guns on the P-47. The speed was better on the P-47 along with the overall movement. His group moved to Corsica [Annotator’s Note: Corsica, France] in the summer of 1944 to bomb an airfield near Rome [Annotator’s Note: Rome, Italy]. As he came close to his target, he could see military personnel loading bombs into their planes. As they strafed the area, the planes exploded, and the sight was amazing. His last mission was on VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day] on 8 May 1945. Colgan was relieved that the war was over, but he knew he would have to stay longer during occupation. He returned to the United States in October 1946. He was able to get a flight home. He reunited with his wife in Boston [Annotator’s Note: Boston, Massachusetts]. Before he was sent overseas, he was assigned as an instructor which gave him the opportunity to marry his wife while he was still in the United States. While he was assigned overseas, he received a 30 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and came home to visit her.

William Colgan served overseas with the 79th Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Group, 12th Air Force and flew in P-40s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft] through the Anzio Campaign [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Anzio, 22 January to 5 June 1944; Anzio, Italy], and then switched to flying the P-47 [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft]. After Colgan’s group supported the invasion of Southern France [Annotator’s Note: the Allied invasion of Provence, Southern France, code named Operation Dragoon; 15 August to 14 September 1944], he was out updating his maps on the airfield. He received word that the squadron was looking for three pilots to scout the Rhone Valley. Colgan volunteered to go on the mission. As he flew over, he saw 30 miles of trains, trucks, horse drawn wagons, weapons, and military personnel. Colgan tried to contact his commander to tell him what he saw. He then came under attack and his wing was hit. Luckily, he was able to control the plane. The other planes were also hit and were fighting to stay up in the air. They lost two pilots on that mission. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:53:20.000.] In March 1945, his group was assigned to target enemy tanks and airfields for a month to support the Army. Colgan believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.