The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War



This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site

please consider making a donation.




    Site Home

    WW2 Home

    Add Stories

    WW2 Search

    Library

    Help & FAQs


 WW2 Features

    Airfields

    Allied Army

    Allied Air Forces

    Allied Navy

    Axis Forces

    Home Front

    Battles

    Prisoners of War

    Allied Ships

    Women at War

    Those Who Served

    Day-by-Day

    Library

    The Great War

 Submissions

    Add Stories

    Time Capsule

    TWMP on Facebook



    Childrens Bookshop

 FAQ's

    Help & FAQs

    Glossary

    Volunteering

    Contact us

    News

    Bookshop

    About


Advertisements











World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

218160

Capt. William M. Cousins

United States Army Air Corps Tuskegee Airmen

from:Philadelphia, PA

William M. Cousins, 90, of Philadelphia, a Tuskegee Airman during World War II who went on to work for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, died on 15th May 1914, of pneumonia at Chestnut Hill Hospital Philadelphia aged 90.

He was drafted into the Army and lobbied hard for the chance to become an aviator. He was sent to Biloxi, Miss., then to Tuskegee, Ala., where he spent 30th July to 8th September 1944, in advanced training as a single-engine aircraft pilot.

He had one close call during the session. "We were in the final phase of advanced training, and it was a high-altitude mission to get the [plane] to its maximum height in a group. Suddenly my windscreen was coated with oil, and I had to make an emergency landing on the field," he recalled in an online account. He landed safely. Upon receiving his wings, he became a second lieutenant and one of the now-famous Tuskegee Airmen. He flew to Casablanca, then on to Naples, and finally inland to Ramitelli, to join the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group. While stationed in Italy, he flew a P-51 Mustang, completing more than a dozen missions.

On 1st October 1945, Mr. Cousins, by then a first lieutenant, sailed from Naples and returned home. He was honorably discharged on 25th December 1946, with the rank of captain.






Related Content:








    Can you help us to add to our records?

    The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


    Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area?

    If so please let us know.

    Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




    Celebrate your own Family History

    Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

    Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














    The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.

    The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

    If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.



    Hosted by:

    The Wartime Memories Project Website

    is archived for preservation by the British Library





    Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
    - All Rights Reserved

    We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.