Top-Turret Gunner William "Bill" Fulkerson
By JUNE RASMUSSEN
Born: December 2, 1916
Died: November 26, 1944
William Harold Fulkerson was born Dec. 2, 1916, to William James Fulkerson and Mabel Louella (King) Fulkerson in El Dorado. His sister, Edna Marie Fulkerson, had been born two years earlier on July 19, 1914, in Drumright, Okla. At the time, William was working as an oil driller for Harry Sinclair, a well-known oilman. When oil was discovered in El Dorado, he moved the family there. The newly discovered oil field was located three miles west of town. It was called the Stapleton #1, which was part of the El Dorado field. This particular field provided much of the oil needed for WW I. A community named Oil Hill had been built by Cities Service Oil Company for the workers to live in while they worked in the fields. However, since William was working for Harry Sinclair, he did not live there, but in El Dorado. It was here that Bill was born.
The 1918 flu epidemic became a real concern. William stayed at the oil rig to ensure that he would not carry any germs to the family. However, a neighbor who had been infected came to the house and Mabel contracted the disease and died. She was buried in the El Dorado cemetery. William took the two children to live with their grandmother Mary Ellen King in Wichita while he continued to work in the oil fields. However, this was not a good situation for the children.
William married Clara Ann Mehl on Oct. 20, 1920. He and the children went to live on the Mehl farm, three miles east of Marion. The Mehls had been early settlers in Marion County and owned a sizable amount of land on the edge of the Flint Hills of Kansas where they did farming and ranching.
Bill and Marie attended the Bixler Country School for eight grades. When they reached the eighth grade, they were expected to quit school to work on the farm. This was all right with Bill since he did not care for school anyway, but for Marie it was a big disappointment and something she has regretted her whole life.
It was very difficult work for both of them. Bill did not like farming with horses and convinced his father to get a tractor. He farmed about 200 acres of wheat land and the rest of the land was rented out. Marie had the job of milking and feeding the cows, taking care of the other livestock, and helping with household chores. William developed lung problems around 1936 and needed to leave the cold Kansas winters. He and Clara went to Tucson, Ariz., for that winter and the next three. The children took care of the farm in their absence. When Marie married Joseph Scott Mason and left the farm in 1939, Bill was left to take care of everything by himself. He developed pneumonia and Marie, who had been living in Eureka, came home to help him. When Bill enlisted in 1942, it was necessary to sell the farm machinery and livestock and to rent out all the land.
There was time for pleasure. It mostly revolved around the church and the school. They would have community meetings at the school where they also would hold cake walks. At church, they were involved in pageants. William bought a car for the two of them in 1932. When they were older, they went to dances at Pilsen, a Czechoslovakian community close to Marion. Marie like to play baseball. Bill hunted, fished, and did things with his friends. Sometimes they would go to Wichita to hear big bands such as the Gene Krupa band.
On the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, Bill and Scott were hunting. They had the radio on and heard what happened. Bill made an immediate decision to enlist and did so in January 1942. He went to Kansas City to begin. He was sent to Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas, where he worked with the ground crew. He wanted to be a pilot and went to a crash course offered by Texas A&M at College Station, Texas. He took the test and was accepted to become a pilot. However, his buddy did not pass so he went to gunnery school with him in Laredo, Texas. He came home on furlough several times. The last time he came home, Marie and Scott drove him to Topeka where he was to fly to Seattle, Wash. During October 1944, he was sent to North Pickenham, England. He was killed in action on a bombing raid over Hannover, Germany, Nov. 26, 1944. He was initially buried in Eimbeckhausen, Germany, but was exhumed after the war and reinterred in the American Military Cemetery near Liège, Belgium.
In 1944 Scott enlisted in the army. He went to Fort Hood at Temple, Texas, for basic training. He was sent to Europe at about the same time Bill went to England. He served in the Third Army, 377th Infantry Regiment, 95th Division. He fought with General Patton at the Battle of the Bulge and received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. He wrote letters to Bill but they were returned, stamped "missing." He came home in June 1945 for a furlough and then was sent to Camp Shelby at Hattiesburg, Miss. He was discharged in December 1945, and returned to civilian life in El Dorado.
When Scott was sent to war, Marie and her daughter June Ann moved to the farm. Rationing had been imposed and it was difficult to get tires and gasoline. Other staples were difficult to get without coupons but those living on the farm were self-sufficient so they were not severely affected by any shortages. Marie worked at a grocery store in Marion and helped town people by giving them coupons they did not need. When the telegram came to the family notifying them that Bill was missing in action, everyone was devastated. William was unable to go to town for supplies for quite some while. It was left up to Marie to deal with the responsibilities of keeping up the farm.
There is a letter from the Army Air Forces dated March 1, 1945, explaining what had happened. There was some communication with the Sloane and Simmons families but no letters remain. The War Department sent a letter on Aug. 8, 1946, to notify the family that Bill's remains had been taken to the cemetery in Liège. Then on Jan. 15, 1948, the family was given an option to have the remains returned to them or left in the Belgium cemetery. They chose to leave him there. They were then notified on Aug. 19, 1949, that Bill's remains had been permanently interred at Plot A, Row 20, Grave 15, at Neiville-en-Condroz. On March 18, 1963, they received an invitation to attend the dedication of the American Memorial room of the Central Library at Norwich, England. There is a Book of Remembrance with the names of all the members of the 2nd Air Division who lost their lives in World War II.
Bill never married. His father died in 1951 of lung cancer. His stepmother died in 1966. Marie is still alive and living in Marion. She has three children, June Ann (Mason) Rasmussen who lives in Tulsa, Okla., William Scott Mason who lives in Kansas City, Mo., and Jerry Lee Mason who lives in Houston, Texas. Marie's boys never had the opportunity to know their uncle.
