Capt. William Henry Mooney, Jr.

Our Hometown Heroes

Capt. William Henry Mooney, Jr.

Parachuted to Safety Only to be Killed by the Nazis

William Henry Mooney, Jr. was a true American Hero. Born in Hawkinsville, GA on October 3, 1916, the young man worked in a cotton mill his father and grandfather had purchased when he was of age.

Young “Billy” would go to school half a day and then work in the mill in the afternoon. After high school graduation Billy attended Clemson College for two years before heading to Griffin to again work in the textile industry.

As the threat of war grew, Mooney was drafted into the US Army Quartermaster Corps on February 4, 1941. He reported to Ft. McPherson. But once in the Army, Billy applied for and was accepted into the Aviation Cadet Training Program, part of the Army-Air Force. Mooney graduated from the program in 1943 and was assigned to the 357th Fighter Group unit deployed to England.

He was eventually assigned to the 363rd Fighter Squadron based at Leiston, England. Primarily the unit escorted the heavy bombers as they flew over and bombed Germany. At 28 year old, Billy had the distinction of being one of the youngest captains in the Army-Air Force. But he also had the dubious honor of being the oldest fighter pilot in his squadron of “young” pilots. His plane was a P-51 Mustang Fighter, he nicknamed, “Libby-B,” perhaps after his mother, Elizabeth.

On Christmas Eve, 1944, Mooney and Lt. Jesse Frey were flying a mission as “spares.” They were along to fill in if any other aircraft developed mechanical problems. Once over Germany, a swarm of Focke-Wulf 190 enemy fighters were sighted. Mooney executed a diving turn to engage the enemy fighters. Lt. Frey last saw what he thought was Mooney’s “Libby-B” on fire. But he also thought he saw the pilot, Mooney, bail out. It was about 2:30 pm, Christmas Eve, 1944.

The Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, reported that Mooney’s aircraft had been totally destroyed and that the Griffin Captain was dead. No other details were available.

But heroic story of William Henry Mooney, Jr. does not end here.

When the Allies invaded Normandy the previous June, the Army Graves Registration units began the arduous and solemn process of identifying bodies that had fallen in battle. The work continued even after Germany surrendered.

In August, 1945, identification units came across an unmarked grave in the small German hamlet of Laubach, 30 miles northeast of Frankfurt. The unit began their investigation. The mayor of the village shared with the investigators that the pilot of the plane had successfully parachuted from his burning aircraft.

Investigators also learned that on that fateful Christmas Eve, Captain Mooney had indeed floated to earth beneath his parachute. As the ground grew closer, Billy watched an unfriendly crowd of German citizens gather. He quickly realized that he was outnumbered and he tossed his side arm (pistol) away. As he landed he gathered his ‘chute so that he would not be dragged away by the wind. The first person to approach the Army-Air Force Captain was Otto Heene, an armed Land Guard Leader for the German Army. The crowd threatened Mooney but within a few minutes, Emil Hoffman, the local Nazi Party leader arrived and took control.

Hoffman ordered that Mooney be escorted to a small jail nearly and be held there until the Christmas holiday was over. Otto Heene began to escort Capt. Mooney to the jail, as Nazi Hoffman followed behind. Hoffman would then slip away, go to his home, don his Nazi uniform, complete with pistol and catch back up with the duo. As Hoffman got closer he pulled the pistol and shot Mooney in the back. Mooney struggled to his feet after the shot but Hoffman fired a second shot, hitting Mooney in the head and killing the US Captain. Mooney’s body was then carried back into the village on a horse drawn cart where he was pronounced dead. He was buried in the unmarked grave the investigators had discovered.

Investigators located the Nazi Hoffman and charged him with the murder of William Henry Mooney, Jr. Hoffman was placed in a jail until a trial could be held. At the war (WWII) crimes trials in Nuremberg, Germany, a young man, Hans-Peter Koller testified as to what had happened that fateful day to Mooney. Convicted of the murder, Nazi Emil Hoffman was found guilty and hung for his crime at the Landsberg Prison in Germany in 1946.

Mooney’s remains were reinterred in Holland and at the family’s request returned to the United States. He is buried in a grave alongside his father, William Henry Mooney, Sr. and his mother, Elizabeth (“Libby-B”) Landon Mooney in the Riverdale Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.

Today we honor our true Hometown Hero, William Henry Mooney, Jr. with a plaque to be installed in Griffin.