William Harrell Nellis

Who was William Harrell Nellis?

William Harrell Nellis was a United States fighter pilot who flew 70 World War II combat missions and was shot down three times, the last time fatally. On April 30, 1950, the Las Vegas Air Force Base in Nevada was renamed Nellis Air Force Base in his honor.

Soon after his birth, Nellis' family moved to Searchlight, Nevada and, when he was 13, to Las Vegas, Nevada. He graduated from Las Vegas High School and subsequently joined the Army Enlisted Reserve Corps on December 9, 1942, training in Albany, Georgia. He was commissioned a flight officer on January 7, 1944. On July 9, 1944, Nellis was assigned to the 513th Fighter Squadron, in support of General George Patton's Third Army. On December 27, 1944, flying a P-47 Thunderbolt during the Battle of the Bulge, he was shot down by ground fire while strafing a German convoy in Luxembourg. He was too low to bail out. Nellis' remains were recovered from his wrecked aircraft the following April. Lt Nellis' gravesite is located at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial near Liège, Belgium.