William Seldon Cassell

Technical Sergeant William S. Cassell was born in Kokomo, Indiana, on August 30, 1925, to Payton R. Cassell and Estelle Saunders Cassell. 

His family moved to Mount Airy, North Carolina, when he was a child. He had one brother, Robert Franklin, and two sisters, Marilee and Alice Hannah. Robert was 14, Marilee was 16, and Hannah was 3 years old when William Cassell died in the plane crash. He also had numerous aunts and uncles and at least ten first cousins.

Records of Technical Sergeant Cassell’s military service are not available but at the time of his last flight, he was assigned to the 15^th TCS of the 61^st Troop Carrier Group based at Eschborn, Germany.

His parents are buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Amelia County, Virginia. This cenotaph (a monument placed to honor a person whose remains are somewhere else) is near their burial site. Although William Cassell’s extended family is large, it has not yet been possible to contact any relatives who might remember William and have pictures of him.

The Mount Airy newspaper published the following article in October, 1947, after the plane had been found and on the day that the crew remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.