THE FLAGLER TRIBUNE
Bunnell, Florida
Thursday, March 8, 1945

S/Sgt. William Herbert Lee, 34-year old, mess sergeant of the student officers' dining hall at Courtland Army Air Field, Courtland, Alabama, dropped dead in his barracks Monday afternoon, March 5, his death being caused by heart disease.

Sgt. Lee graduated from Bunnell High School in the class of 1929. He entered the Army on June 19, 1941. He was a graduate of the U. S. Army Cook's and Baker's School at Camp Blanding, Florida.

Sgt. Lee, known to his friends throughout Flagler County as Willie Lee, had been patient in the army hospital at his camp but had been discharged and had been on duty the day he died, according to a letter received by his mother here from Pfc. John B. Smith, barrack mate of Sergeant Lee.

Private Smith, in his letter to Mrs. Lee here said in part "I am writing this letter on behalf of the boys in the squadron. When I was transferred to this squadron I didn't take much notice of him x x x but before long he won my respect and admiration. He really was outstanding x x We know that he must have been a devoted soldier for he seemed to think so much of home x x x."

The body was sent to home accompanied by Sgt. R. M. Johnson, member of Sgt. Lee's outfit, as military escort.

Funeral services were held Friday from the Methodist Church here, of which he was a member, with Rev. A. A. Godfrey, pastor, officiating and assisted by a former pastor, Rev. R. A. Selby of Daytona Beach and Rev. W. K. McClure, pastor of' the Bunnell, Baptist Church.

He was buried in Espanola Cemetery that afternoon with full military honors, with a firing squad from Camp Blanding.

Sgt. Lee is survived by his mother, Mrs. Ellen Lee of Bunnell; two sisters, Mrs. B. N. Davis and Miss Annie Ruth Lee of Montgomery, Alabama, and one brother, Edward O. Lee of Bunnell.

Pallbearers were members of Flagler Post No. 115, The American Legion: A. M. McDaniel, O. F. Alford, Brady Wadsworth, H. C. Miller, F. J. Chambers and H. M. Benson.

Honorary pallbearers were H. T. Cook, Clyde Lewis, J. F. Mercer, Henry Wells, H. A. Eisenbach, Dale B. Brown, T. K. McKnight, D. D. Moody, K. K. Knight and Albert Johnson.

NOTES for Zeb E Booe diary, 09 Mar 1945: "MSgt Willie Lee died from attack of heart trouble - funeral here and buried at Espanola, today."