Sixteen million Americans served during World War II. More than 400,000 would return home in caskets after being killed in the conflict. More so, 72,333 of the 400,000 would not return to their families, as they were still missing. That was the reality of the families whose sons, daughters, dads, or maybe moms never really made it back, whose last memory of them was leaving to fight for the country.

Best Friends and Brothers-at-hand

Two best friends would answer the call of World War II and enlist together to serve: First Lt. Jim Louvier and First Lt. Bill Gray. Before they went, the two made a pact that if one of them did not make it back home, the other would take care of the family of whoever would not make it back home.

First Lt. Jim Louvier screen captured from q13fox.com.

First Lt. Louvier served as a bomber co-pilot, while his buddy Gray was a 391st Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group member. In September of 1945, Louvier would return to Washington, and just two months later, he would marry Gray’s sister, Jeanne. However, Bill would sadly not witness the wedding of his sister and best friend as he did not make it back home.

Disappearance

On April 16, 1945, then 21-year-old Gray was on a dive-bombing mission in his single-seat P-47D Thunderbolt and flying near Lindau, Sachsen-Anhalt, in Germany when, according to his flight leader, his aircraft’s left wing clipped some trees and caused him to crash in Lindau. The world was just three weeks away from witnessing the war’s end when the mishap occured.

Lt. Bill Gray, screen captured from q13fox.com.

In October 1948, the American Graves Registration Command recovered Bill Gray’s aircraft by correlating the serial numbers on the plane that Gray was last seen flying before the accident happened. Still, there were no signs of his body or anything that could point the investigators in the right direction as to where his remains might be.

As for his family, they were left with nothing but old photos and the more than 100 letters he wrote while he was still in the battlezone, saying that he had flown 68 missions at that time.

His sister Jeanne remembered Bill as a “very quiet but very brilliant” brother. He was the oldest among five siblings and joined the Army Air Forces in September 1942. And as his family wrote in his obituary, “Like many young men and women of his generation, Bill jumped to defend our country, enlisting along with his good buddy and future brother-in-law, James I. Louvier.”

Following his disappearance, his family received his scrapbook filled with news clippings about his successful missions. They also received letters he wrote, primarily addressed to his family. At one point, he even questioned who Jeanne was dating. Little did he know that his sister and best friend would end up being together.