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An Interview with William Beasley (February 28, 2014 Part 1 of 2)

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An Interview with William Beasley (February 28, 2014 Part 1 of 2)

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Title	An Interview with William Beasley (February 28, 2014 Part 1 of 2)
Creator	Texas A&M University-Commerce
Subject	World War, 1939-1945 United States. Army. Air Corps. Prisoners of war, Germany Prisoners of war--United States
Description	First Lieutenant William C. Beasley, born in Georgetown, Mississippi, on December 28, 1922, enlisted in the military in December 1942. After minimal primary training at Sheppard Air Field in Wichita Falls, Texas, Beasley spent four months at Texas A&M University in the College Training Detachment which provided the academic foundation necessary for the various members of flight crews. Like many young men joining the Army Air Corps, Beasley wanted to be a pilot but was too tense on the controls and his limited education at A&M was insufficient. Beasley then classified for navigation training in San Antonio, completed pre-flight navigation at Ellington Field in Houston, advanced training in San Marcos, and finally joined his crew at Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho. They finally received their B-24 in Topeka, Kansas. Three days before the Normandy invasion, Beasley and his crew arrived in Hethel, England where he was stationed throughout his time in Europe. Although Beasley and his crew did not fly missions in support of the invasion, they did fly support missions into St. Lo. On September 5, 1944—during Beasley's 17th mission—their B-24 encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire for a second time and were forced to bail out. Eight of the 12 crew members survived and, once on the ground, fell into enemy hands and became POWs at Stalag Luft I. By the end of April 1945, after roughly nine months in the camp, the Germans guards fled the camp to avoid capture by the advancing Red Army. By Mother's Day, Beasley and his compatriots were liberated and on their way to Camp Lucky Strike for rehabilitation before making their way back to the United States. Beasley arrived home in mid-June 1945 via Boston, and met his soon-to-be-wife Sarah thanks to a friend of his father's. The two married November 15, 1945, and attended East Texas Baptist College together. Beasley felt as though his life had been spared for a reason and went into the ministry as a means of helping others, eventually ending up in Bonham, Texas, as the chaplain at the VA hospital.
Date	2014-02-28
Publisher	N/A
Publisher of Collection	Texas A&M University-Commerce
Contributors	William Beasley; East Texas War and Memory Project
Interviewer	Hayley Hasik & Jackson Dailey
Type	Moving Image
File Format	mp4
Duration	01:19:12
OH #	1084.1
Rights	All rights to materials within this collection are held by respective holding institutions or individuals with the exception of public domain items. The materials contained within this collection are made available online for educational and/or personal research purposes only.
CONTENTdm file name	4168.mp4

An Interview with William Beasley (February 28, 2014 Part 1 of 2)

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