William James Hautz was born on October 20, 1921 to Harry and Mary Walsh Hautz in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. He was the youngest of six children, five boys and one girl. His father was a contractor/cement finisher. Williams paternal grandparents immigrated from Germany.

He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1941. He then enlisted in the Army Air Forces in February 1942. Served during World War II. He had the rank of Second Lieutenant. Occupation or specialty was Co-Pilot. Service number was O-759451. He served with 384th Bomber Group, Heavy, 547th Bomber Squadron.

Hautz experienced a traumatic event on his second mission which resulted in loss of life on April 24, 1944. Recorded circumstances attributed to: "KIA - Killed in Action". Incident location: Leustetten, Germany.

He was the co-pilot on the crew of the B-17G #42-38158 "Jean" during a mission to bomb the Dornier aircraft factory at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. They received a direct hit in the cockpit and exploded mid air, crashing near Leustatten, Germany.

William James Hautz is buried or memorialized at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.

COMMENDATIONS

★ Air Medal ★ Purple Heart

8 casualties are related to the #42-38158 incident on April 24, 1944.

Pilot: 2nd Lt. William Graham MacKichan, MI

Co-Pilot: 2nd Lt. William James Hautz , OH

Navigator: 1st Lt. Neil Emerson Walling, MI

Bombardier: 2nd Lt. John D. Lynch, Jr., IN.

Top Turret: T/Sgt. Elroy Andrew Altendorf , WI

Ball Turret: S/Sgt. John S. Cox, IN

Tail Gunner: T/Sgt. John Paul Pastorella, CT

Right Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. Kermit Iver Olstad, MN

Bailed Out and survived:

Radio Operator: S/Sgt.Kenneth D. Gray, POW at Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikindorf near Krems Austria

Left Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. Claus Norman Gustafson, POW at Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikindorf near Krems Austria

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (seehttps://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/ . This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

William J Hautz