Second Lieutenant William Oswald Brite was born on 8 May 1916, the elder child of James Madison Brite (1894-1965) and Ruth Hazel Brite née Pillow (1896-1936), in Posey County, Indiana, USA.
He attended the Benjamin Bosse High School in Evansville and the United States Federal Census returns in 1920 and 1930 show him living in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, USA. In the 1940 census return his address was recorded as 1112 Lodge Avenue, Evansville, where he was residing with his wife, Catherine H. Brite (b.1917), his father and his sister, Julia Vera Brite (1921-2004).
He was training as a service pilot in 1940 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, when he volunteered to join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and was appointed as a Flight Sergeant serving in No.71 Squadron, at RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk. On 13 October 1942 he transferred to the 334 Fighter Squadron in the 4th Fighter Group of the 8th Air Force in the USAAF and was based at RAF Debden, Saffron Walden, Essex. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant and transferred as an Instructor on Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aeroplanes at RAF Atcham, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
He was reported as Missing in Action over the Atlantic Ocean, aged 26 years, on 27 April 1943 and as he has no known grave he is commemorated on the Wall of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB23 7PH and on the Tablets of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, at Amerikaanse Begraafplaats 1, 6269 NA Margraten, Netherlands.
He was awarded the Air Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
