WILLIAM TROY DUFFORD

Flight Officer, US Army Air Force

Service # T-63225

William Troy was born on 20 Jan 1923 in Butler, Butler County, Pennsylvania. He was the elder son of Mollie Irene Louise Truby (1902-1943) and Troy Eugene Dufford (1900-1930), both of whom were from PA. When Troy registered for the WWI draft on 12 Sep 1918 he listed his occupation as truck driver. He and Mollie married on 7 Mar 1921 in Brooke, West Virginia but settled in their home town of Butler. By 1928 they had three children: William Troy, Alona and Robert Dunkin. On 12 Mar 1930, Troy Dufford died at home from pulmonary tuberculosis, leaving Mollie to raise the three children. The next year she had a job as a sales clerk in a confectionery shop. By 1940 William was a junior in high school. Mollie was no longer working outside the house but had taken in two boarders to help pay expenses, one of whom, LeRoy W. De Vault, she married that year.

On 30 Jun 1942, age 19, William registered for military service. He was working for the Pullman Standard Company in Lyndora, PA. His description was 5'-10" tall, weighing 165 pounds, with gray eyes and brown hair. According to the newspaper, William was among those from the area rushing to enlist by December 1942: 185 enlisted in the Army, 172 in the Navy and 72 in the Marines. William opted for the Army Air Force and was trained as a Flight Officer for fighter jets. Following training he was assigned to the 391st Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group.

The Army had constituted the 391st Fighter Squadron as part of the 366th Fighter Group in May 1943, but the organizations existed only on paper until 1 June 1943, when the 366th Fighter Group and its three flying squadrons were activated at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia. There the squadron received its personnel and equipment and began flight training in P-47 Thunderbolts. On 9 August 1943 they moved to Bluethenthal Air Field, NC. The 366th Fighter Group entered the war in Europe with its arrival at Membury, England, on 10 January 1944, although the 391st did not complete the move until 2 days later. There the squadron conducted theatre training, learning tactics used against the enemy from Allied pilots who already had combat experience. The 336th moved to Thruxton, England on 2 Mar and began flying combat missions, which consisted of conducting fighter sweeps over occupied Europe, bombing tactical targets as well as engaging Nazi planes in air-to-air combat. The entire 366th Group supported action leading up to the Normandy invasion and flew many sorties during D-Day operations. After the Allied forces gained a foothold on the Continent, the group and its squadrons earned a Distinguished Unit Citation supporting the St. Lo breakthrough.

As the German Army was pushed back across Europe, the 391st changed bases several times to better allow the fighters to penetrate behind enemy lines. They patrolled roads in front of the beachhead, strafed German military vehicles, dropped bombs on gun emplacements, anti-aircraft artillery and concentrations of German troops. From 19 Nov 1944–11 Apr 1945, the airfield at Asch, Belgium (formerly Zutendaal) was home to North American P-51 Mustangs of the 352nd Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force and P-47 Thunderbolts from 366th Fighter Group, Ninth Air Force.

It was from Asch, designated Y-29 by the USAAF, that Flight Officer William Troy Dufford took off on 9 Mar 1945 on an operational run to Wesel, Germany. At 1650 hours he and a second fighter air craft had completed their mission and were circling around looking for another target for the demolition bombs when they were intercepted by enemy aircraft. William’s plane was last seen at about 5000' going straight down smoking. On 19 Apr 1945 his home town paper reported F/O William Troy Dufford as killed in action in the European Theater of Operation on 9 Mar 1945, saying that the family had been notified two months earlier.

William was buried initially in the American cemetery at Margraten, Aachen, Holland until the end of the war. In August 1949, his remains, along with those of 22 other war dead from the Pittsburgh area were returned aboard the US Army Transport Carroll Victory. On 24 Aug 1949 F/O William Dufford was re-interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 34, site 4364. He was survived by his sister and brother.

“This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project – see www.storiesbehindthestars.org – a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Together we Served and Fold3/Find A Grave have smartphone apps that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery and read these stories of the WWII fallen.”

SOURCES

1930 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

1940 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zutendaal_Air_Base

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/william-troy-dufford

Missing Air Crew Report #12955 – Fold3.com

https://www.natotigers.org/tiger-unit/391st-fighter-squadron

Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1969 – Ancestry.com

The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA) - Sat, Dec 12, 1942 - Page 9 – Newspapers.com

The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA) - Thu, Apr 19, 1945 - Page 2 – Newspapers.com

The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA) - Mon, Aug 8, 1949 - Page 18 – Newspapers.com

U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962 – Ancestry.com

U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 – Ancestry.com

U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 – Ancestry.com

West Virginia, U.S., Marriage Index, 1785-1971 – Ancestry.com

SBTS/Pennsylvania/Butler

William T Dufford