• Aug. 27, 1917 – July 10, 1943
• From Knoxville, TN
• Business Adm. – 1940
• Enlisted in September 1941 
• 1st Lt. – Army Air Corps
• Died while serving in North Africa. Plane malfunction on returning from a mission in Sicily at the start of the Allied invasion
• 60th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Group
• North Africa American Cemetery in Tunisia
  • Highland Memorial Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee 

William Walton Bonner (August 27, 1917 – July 10, 1943) was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Tennessee in Business Administration in 1940. Bonner enlisted in the Army Air Corps in September 1941 before the United States had entered the war. He served as a 1st Lieutenant flying with the 60th Fighter Squadron of the 33rd Fighter Group, fighting in the European Theater. After participating in the North African campaign, 1st Lt. Bonner conducted missions in the Mediterranean before the Allied invasion of Sicily. He was assigned to a mission over Sicily on July 10th, 1943, during the first days of the Allied invasion. On his return to North Africa following the mission, 1st Lt. Bonner’s fighter suffered a catastrophic malfunction mid-air, and he was killed when it crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. He is memorialized at the North Africa American Cemetery in Tunisia and Highland Memorial Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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