William L. Snow was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1924, the middle child of three boys born to a father who owned a trucking business and a mother who worked for Sears and Roebuck. His family did not suffer too much 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] because his father was able to find work with his trucking business. Snow was only aware of Japanese and European hostilities through what was said over the radio. He had just returned from church when he heard the news of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] over the radio. He was amazed and shocked by the news. He knew he wanted to join the military and fight, but he was only 16 years old and in high school. His older brother did not enter the service. Snow and a friend went to a Navy recruiting office in Detroit one day, but his friend was denied because he was colorblind and had an overbite. Snow and his friend decided to join the Army instead. His friend again was turned down, but Snow decided to continue with his application to be inducted into service. He was tested and qualified for training as an aviation cadet following basic training at Fort Wayne [Annotator's Note: in Detroit, Michigan]. Because he was a Boy Scout [Annotator's Note: Boy Scouts of America, scouting and youth organization founded in 1910], he did not find basic training to be very difficult. Snow joined the cadet school because he had an interest in flying. He was tested in Nashville [Annotator's Note: Nashville, Tennessee] and Montgomery [Annotator's Note: Montgomery, Alabama]. He enjoyed his flight school training in Florida and first flew in an open cockpit biplane. He began his flight training in February 1943, and he received his pilot's wings in 1944. He was assigned to the 812th Bombardment Squadron, 482nd Bombardment Group at MacDill Field [Annotator's Note: now MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida]. His crew was ordered to go to Georgia to pick up a plane, however, when they arrived, the military had run out of airplanes. They then caught a train to New Jersey and boarded a ship to cross the Atlantic in November 1943.

William L. Snow arrived overseas in November 1944 and was stationed at Alconbury, England [Annotator's Note: with the 812th Bombardment Squadron, 482nd Bombardment Group]. From Alconbury, he flew nearly 35 combat missions over Europe. Additionally, he flew training missions for radar operators with the introduction of "Mickey" radar [Annotator's Note: H2X radar - Mickey set, AN/APS-15]. Snow's group flew a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] on their missions. His first five missions he was assigned as a co-pilot on a different crew, then he was reassigned to his crew again as pilot. His navigator became a trained Mickey pilot to help bomb the target. The radar was not very accurate. On Snow's first mission, he ran into German fighters and ack-ack [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire]. His mission was to bomb the target at 25,000 feet. He flew a tight flight formation the whole way which lasted about five hours. He flew a mission every day if the weather was good. When he was given 72-hour leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], he always took a trip to London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. At this time, the Germans were bombing the city with V2s [Annotator's Note: German Vergeltungswaffe 2, or Retribution Weapon 2, ballistic missile]. Every time the engine on the missile stopped, everyone would find cover to wait for the explosion. Snow got married and had a daughter while he was serving in England and kept touch through mail. He was too busy to get homesick flying missions every day. He constantly ticked off his mission count because he was ready to go home.

William L. Snow [Annotator's Note: with the 812th Bombardment Squadron, 482nd Bombardment Group] completed 35 missions after the war in Europe ended. He was in London [Annotator's Note: London, England] on leave during VE-day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945]. It was a great and wild experience. All the pubs were open and had free booze for everyone. He was relieved that he made it out of the war alive. The Germans sent over V2 bombs [Annotator's Note: German Vergeltungswaffe 2, or Retribution Weapon 2, ballistic missile] during the war in England. After Germany surrendered, Snow flew one mission to pick up POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] somewhere in Europe and brought them back to the United States, landing in Bangor, Maine in July 1945. He received a 30-day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] before being reassigned to the Pacific. He was happy when the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] dropped, and Japan surrendered. He did not want to be assigned to the B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] because they were long missions. He was in Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California] on VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945]. It was wild. He was discharged and bummed a ride home with a friend.

William L. Snow remained in the reserves until 1950 when he was recalled into active duty [Annotator's Note: for the Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953] and sent to Japan for six months where he flew C-47s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo transport aircraft] carrying troops and supplies to Busan, Korea. He decided he did not want to fly anymore and asked to get his orders changed with the help of the VFW [Annotator's Note: Veterans of Foreign Wars]. He had to stay in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] for 30 days. He was discharged that same year with the rank of 1st Lieutenant.

Every young adult should serve in the military. William L. Snow was only 20 years old when he flew his first mission. Young people do not think much about World War 2 today. There should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because school-age children need to learn this history.