N.A. "Bill" Billingsley
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N.A. (Bill) was born on November 20, 1922 on his parent's farm near Dunn, in Scurry County, Texas. His parents were Nat and Myrtle Billingsley, who died in the late 1970's. Bill had one brother, Max, who died in 1976.
A Memorial service was held on February 10, 2021 at First United Methodist Church, Abilene, Texas. A Graveside service will be held at a later date at the Texas State Veterans Cemetery at Abilene, under the direction of The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road, Abilene, TX 79606.
N.A. enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942. This is where he received the nickname, Bill. During WWII, Bill piloted both the Martin Marauder B-26 and the Douglas Invader A-26 (both medium bombers). Bill served in the Pacific area of operations in the Philippine Islands and on Okinawa. After Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945, he served eight months in the occupational forces for Japan. One of the main jobs Bill had while in Japan was to fly military personnel over Hiroshima so that they could take pictures of a devastated city caused by the atom bomb that was dropped on Aug. 6, 1945. Bill returned home after serving nearly four years in the Army Air Corp. He continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve program and retired in 1963 as a Lt. Colonel. Bill entered Texas Tech School of engineering in 1946 where he met Margaret Cary from Colorado City. They were married on Jan. 31, 1948. Bill graduated from Texas Tech in 1950 and worked for The Texas Highway Department, (now called TXDOT,) for 31 years. He worked part of the time as a resident engineer, district laboratory engineer and as a district administrative engineer.
The family suggests Memorial gifts be made to Wesley Court Retirement Center (2617 Antilley Road Abilene, TX 79606) in honor of Bill Billingsley or to the Children's Ministry at First United Methodist Church in Abilene (202 Butternut Street, Abilene, Texas 79602).