“The man who says he is not afraid, has just not been there. You are scared to death, but you don’t run. You stand there and take it and fight back. And then you get so mad, you can do anything.”
Those were words said by William Coleman, a redhaired Yazoo boy who made a name for himself on the football field of Yazoo High School during his youth. His face was covered with freckles, often found driving a tractor or truck on his family farm in Carter. He was described as a person who made everyone around him feel special, highly intelligent. And he loved the people of his community, especially his friends and family.
But his love for his fellow man went beyond the county limits of his hometown. And “football star” would be replaced with “hero.”
He was Maj. William “Bill” Coleman. And he served his country in World War II, ultimately sacrificing his own life for his country.
Coleman had originally intended to head back to Mississippi State University his senior year of college. But the world was changing around him. The talk of war was consuming every conversation at the dinner table. And, at the time, no one suspected the attack on Pearl Harbor was coming.
In September of 1940, Coleman did not return to college. He instead joined the Army Air Corps and was trained to become a fighter pilot. In October of 1941, he completed his training and was stationed in the Philippines.
Not long after, the United States was at war.
Word soon spread that the Japanese forces had attacked Clark Field in the Philippines, where Coleman was stationed. His family in Yazoo County received no word from him. They did not hear anything for several weeks.
Local friends and family began to wonder if Coleman had been killed, injured, or taken as prisoner of war.
However, no one knew that Coleman was still flying.
“There were two planes left that could fly,” a Yazoo Herald article reads. “He and another pilot went in after them. The other pilot’s plane was destroyed, and he bailed out. The enemy went after him as he parachuted down. William went to his rescue, firing at the enemy until he was too close to the ground to maneuver when his plane was shot. He, too, had to bail out. Then, there were no planes left to fly.”
Coleman began to use his “fierceness and intelligence” that had helped in scoring in football games of his youth. He used his skills he learned in training and even from his time when he studied ROTC at MSU for three years. He would later credit those skills to helping him stay alive.
At times, Coleman would go on missions that required him crawling for miles, always surrounded by the enemy. Making no noise, not even accidentally snapping a twig, he pushed on. Once, he was afraid to close his eyes for seven days and seven nights. He ate lizards and insects. He soon added acorns and rice cooked in seawater to his diet.
“Food was a continuing problem for him and his friends,” the article continues. “They were cut off, and no supplies were coming in. They ate monkey when they could find any. William said monkey meat was awfully stringy and tough. Once a wild boar ran through their camp. Although most of the men were so weak from hunger, that they could barely lift their rifles, they managed to riddle the pig with bullets, giving them a little meat to eat.”
Escape was the main priority for Coleman. He knew that the Americans could not hold out much longer. Some had uncovered an old amphibian airplane out of Manila Bay and began working on it, hoping they could make it fly again. It was a two-seater craft, and the men took anything they could out of it so that more men could possibly be carried away. Finally, they decided to risk it. Six pilots, including Coleman, crowded into the plane.
“As the plane took down the runway, Japanese soldiers came down the other end and began firing at them,” the article said. “The men were all so exhausted and starved that they took turns flying. At last, they landed on a small island, where they made some more repairs to the plane.
The men then flew to Mindiano, a small southern island in the Philippines. There they were given food.
“William ate 11 eggs for his first meal and was still hungry,” the article said. “But he could not hold anymore.”
It was then that Coleman was able to send word back to Yazoo that he was alive.
After recovering from malaria in an Australian hospital, Coleman returned to the United States. He eventually made it back to Yazoo.
“His hair was still bright red and his face full of freckles,” the article reads. “But he no longer looked the same. His eyes looked dead, even when he laughed and talked with his friends. One friend who had gone to high school with him said, ‘something in him was destroyed in the Philippines. I felt like I was talking to a stranger when I saw him.’”
Oddly, Coleman spoke freely about his experiences.
“Actually, being under fire is not as bad as the anticipation of it,” he said. “But the man who says he is not afraid, has just not been there. You are scared to death, but you don’t run. You stand there and take it and fight back. And then you get so mad, you can do anything.”
Coleman would marry the former Mildred Johnson of Yazoo City. And they eventually relocated to the east coast.
“But he was not happy to be safe in the United States when other pilots were fighting practically all over the world,” The Herald recounts. “The Army told him men with his experience were more valuable teaching others to be pilots. But he kept insisting that he be sent back to combat. Eventually, he was transferred to England.”
In the summer of 1944, Coleman was part of a fighter-bomber group that destroyed 660 German vehicles and damaged 114 others.
Coleman was awarded the Silver Star. Two weeks after receiving the honor, he led his squadron on an armed mission over the Normandy Peninsula.
“His plane was hit and started to smoke and dive downward,” the article said. “Someone thought they saw a parachute, but the visibility was bad. William was listed as missing in action.”
Coleman’s mother received word from a chaplain through a letter that said, ‘we all know that Bill never cared for the flimflam of life. He cared for little money and was not interested in honors. He had a job to do and did it as he saw it.”
Later, a body was found and identified as Coleman by his fingerprints. He is buried in France.
Coleman was always remembered as an intelligent redhaired boy with a fighting spirit who loved his community, its people, and his country. Much like the flame of his spirit, he brightened the lives of those he knew and loved.
And the flame of a hero will always shine.
