William Bullard, Jr.

Bill Bullard flew into his new life on September 14, 2015 at home in Kerrville with his wife of 70 years and his daughter at his side, accompanied by a beloved family friend.\r\n \r\nBill was born in Burkburnett, Texas on October 2, 1919, the first son of William E. and Addie May (Meeks) Bullard. He graduated from Van High School in 1938. Right out of high school he joined the Marines and was assigned to Pearl Harbor. Following his discharge, he went to work in the oil fields to save money to go to college...but World War II intervened. Although he had no further military obligation following his Marine service, and could not be drafted, he signed up again, this time with a very specific goal: to become a fighter pilot. And that he did. He was deployed to England in December of 1944. The P-51 Mustang was just coming on line when he arrived, and there was no time to check it out: The first time he ever flew his was in combat. He flew 50 missions in "El Malo Hombre" and was about to leave on R&R, but accepted a 51st mission against impossible odds. He was "shot up" in aerial combat over Normandy on July 18, 1944, but managed to crashland his badly damaged plane in a grain field only 1000 yards inside enemy territory. Wounded from the battle, he was captured by the Germans and sent to Prisoner-of-War camp Stalagluft I in the far north of what became East Germany. He spent nine months as a POW and then escaped his captors and made his way back to friendly forces just as the war was ending. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Purple Heart, among other recognitions of his military service.\r\n \r\nBill met his beautiful wife Birdie on a blind date the day that Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, and their courtship over the next 6 years was overshadowed by world events. When he returned from the War in July of 1945, they were married two weeks later in Van, and their two children, Linda and Gene, followed in quick succession.\r\n \r\nHe decided to stay in the Air Force after the War and became an all-weather jet interceptor pilot and taught flying. In addition to assignments all around Texas, he was stationed in the Azores and Taiwan. Following his retirement in 1961, Bill and the family moved back to Denison, Texas, where he had earlier been stationed, so that the children could go to high school there. When both children went to Europe in 1967-Linda on her Junior Year Abroad in Switzerland and Gene stationed in Germany with the Air Force-Bill and Birdie just packed up and moved to Germany to be close to them. \r\n \r\nWhen they returned to the U.S. in the fall of 1968 they decided to settle in the Hill Country, which they had come to know when Bill was stationed in San Marcos and they lived in Wimberley. They found acreage on Goat Creek and began working together on his dream of creating a homestead. He and Birdie built their sturdy rock home completely alone, picking up all the stones by hand, even putting in the fences themselves by hand, pioneer-style. He loved to welcome his family and friends to share their beautiful spot in the Hills and provided unforgettable memories there to his nieces, nephews, and Dutch grandchildren.\r\n \r\nBill returned to France in 1994 for the 50th anniversary of the date he had been shot down and captured by the Germans. The town where his plane crashed considered him their own personal liberator and gave him a magnificent hero's welcome, and he was made an honorary French citizen. He also visited the site in Germany where he had been kept in the "cooler" before being shipped out to the POW camp, and had a very moving meeting with a German pilot who was wingman of the adversary who took him down and saw him hit. In 2010, notwithstanding being on hospice following a massive heart attack, he returned to England for the 66th anniversary of D-day to unveil a memorial to his Fighter Group at Staplehurst Advanced Landing Ground in Kent County, again being honored as he merited.\r\n \r\nIn the last years of his life, Bill enjoyed the beautiful place he and Birdie had created on Goat Creek-he called it the "Yumadoll Ranch"--grafting and nurturing his pecan trees, watching the deer and birds, corresponding with friends and family, driving his beloved 1969 Ford pickup and Ferguson tractor. His greatest pleasure was sharing what he had: his pecans, produce from the garden, his home, and his stories. He was a true hero to his country and to his family and friends, with a great sense of humor. He was a consummate storyteller, and the famous Texas chronicler Leon Hale even came out to hear some, immortalizing one, "The Rainmaker," in his famous column. He loved music and dancing, and harmonized beautifully with Birdie. He was fiercely independent, refusing to make the slightest accommodation to his failing heart, working on his garden and projects until the very end. His went down checking a pecan to see when they would be ready to harvest.\r\n \r\nBill Bullard was the embodiment of the Greatest Generation, and his life emblematic of the century that it spanned. From his birth in the oil fields of west Texas, his childhood when his family fell from comfort to poverty in the Great Depression, his war contribution as a fighter pilot and POW, and finally becoming a cowboy in the Texas Hill Country...he lived richly and set down his experiences in a memoir he entitled Tight Turns.\r\n \r\nBill was preceded in death by his son Gene of Los Angeles, his parents W. E. Bullard Sr. and Addie May Bullard of Van, Texas, his older sister Euline Bullard Meeks of Fresno, California, his brother Virgil Bullard of Alvin, Texas, and his brother Gene Bullard of Kerrville. He is survived by his wife Birdie, daughter Linda Bullard of Kerrville, and sister Becky Bullard Davis of Dallas, as well as many well-loved nieces and nephews and his exchange-student daughter Marleen Oudegeest of Leersum, the Netherlands.\r\n \r\nVisitation will be held Friday, September 18, 2015, 5-7 PM at Grimes Funeral Chapels.\r\n \r\nA celebration of the life of this remarkable man will take place at Grimes Funeral Chapels on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 2 p.m. He will be laid to rest with full military honors next to his son at the Garden of Memories.