I would like to start the year with an article about an old-time Nocona resident and my good friend, Bill Henley. Bill, who has been described as a World War II hero, a wonderful man and father, could also be described as a legend in his own time.

Bill Henley was born to Helen Salmon Henley and Willie Bedford Henley on August 8, 1918. One of four children, he grew up in and around Nocona. He attended both Prairie Point (now Prairie Valley) and Nocona schools. His father was a rancher and later in life was sheriff of Montague County.

From the time Bill was sixteen years of age, he lived with his uncle, S.D. (Pigg) Howard, and aunt, Thelma Howard. Working for his uncle for a dollar a day, Bill did ranch and farm work when there wasn’t all this new and modern farm equipment used today. This was back in a time when one rode horseback and used mules and wagons. Labor was arduous and back breaking.

Almost twenty-four, Bill joined the Army-Air Corp. on July 8, 1942. He received his engineering training at Chanute Field, Chanute, Illinois, then went on to gunnery school at Davis Monthan Field in Tucson, Arizona. Bill’s brother Raymond (Buddy) joined the Navy. While both men were overseas their father died of cancer. Helen carried out her husband’s term as sheriff. She was the second female sheriff of Montague County. The first was Kate Chandler, who also filled her husband’s unexpired term. Bill had an amazing career in the military. He went overseas in February of 1943, and while based in Italy, Bill was awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal for Action as a Liberator engineer-gunner. He was wounded in June.

July 9, 1943, Technical Sgt. Henley was engineer and top turret gunner of a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. On this day he was reported missing in action. Missing in action for thirty-six days, he arrived October 17th, at the Stark General Hospital, South Carolina.

He told the story of their march across the mountains of Yugoslavia. The plane was shot to pieces by flak from anti-craft while they were bombing Ploesti, Romania. They were forced to bail out when they got close to Yugoslavia. There were nine of them who survived. Henley swam the Danube river with a broken back. The nine men walked for days across the rugged mountains while hiding from the enemy until their rescue.

Bill already had the Purple Heart with a cluster, but on July 9, 1943, on his thirty-eighth mission, he performed the action for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross. The plane was shot up over the target; two engines were out of commission, the aileron control cables were gone. Sgt. Henley, who was the engineer and the top gunner in his crew, spliced the cables together and enabled the plane to get away from the target area before they were forced to bail out. Sgt. Henley was hospitalized in Italy after being evacuated by a plane from Yugoslavia. He had suffered a fractured vertebrae as a result of the jump on July 9th, and was returned home on the hospital ship Arcadia. At Stark General Hospital, he was given further treatment before going to a Longview Texas Hospital.

In the Army-Air Corp. for over two years with the last seven months in the Mediterranean, Bill returned home to his wife, Lavelle.

I would like to finish out his war years by telling you of all the medals Bill won in his gallant effort to serve his country. Bill received three Purple Hearts, one Golden Eagle and The Distinguished Flying Cross. He also received a medal for European Theatre of Operations. During the period when Bill was reported missing in action, Pig Howard was asked if he thought Bill was alive. Pig said, "If the moon shines, Bill will be back home." Thelma Howard said, "Although I never had any children, I consider Bill Henley my son, and love him as my son". Even at an early age, it is easy to see Bill’s actions spoke louder than his words. He indeed was a man of action! Now I’d like to talk about Bill’s life after the war. Bill and his wife Lavelle had three children, Marian, Thelma Sue, and Billy. Marian and her husband live in Evergreen, Colorado, Thelma Sue lives at the old Pig Howard homeplace, and Billy and his wife, Rebecca, live in Nocona.

Bill went back to ranching and working in the oil field and continued to rodeo where he rode bulls and bareback horses, at which he excelled. He was one of the original group of men who built the Nocona Rodeo Arena.

Besides being strong, tough, kind, generous, and loving man, father, and grandfather. Bill had always been very generous to his children and grandchildren, helping to make sure their wants and needs were met with a generosity that can only come from his great love for them. His daughter, Thelma Sue says, "He is as steady as a rock," in that he can always be counted on to help. Bill lost his wife, Lavelle, to Alzheimers disease, but showered her with loving care until the end.

Besides family, Bill has helped numerous friends and his church and his community. When Bill heard a church needed a new organ, it was Bill who gave the money for it. This is just one example of an exemplary man with a great need to serve.

You all may remember that we had an unusually large population of grasshoppers in 1999. After joking with a waitress at Red River Station about her being the "Grasshopper" Queen, a Grasshopper Festival was started and Bill, known at the "Round table" as "Big Bill", became chairman of the board for the event. He said being chairman confirmed what he had always said, he was the man in charge.

On July 13, 2002, he was honored in the parade and at the 50th Annual Chisholm Trail rodeo for being one of the original men who helped build the Nocona Rodeo Arena and for his fifty years of service. When there was a riding club in Nocona, Bill was an active member and he now has the distinction of being the only man still living who was one of the original founders. Bill will be eighty-five years old come August 8th, but he still is a rancher, friend and family man whose heart is in the right place.

Bill and daughter Thelma Sue

The next time any of you see Bill in or around Nocona, please thank him for his service to his country and his generosity to your community. I know I will.