Bill Pound was born on May 18, 1918, in Milford, Utah. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Corps for navigator training in May 1940, and was commissioned a 2d Lt and awarded his navigator wings on June 25, 1941. His first assignment was as a B-25 Mitchell navigator with the 37th Bomb Squadron of the 17th Bomb Group at Pendleton Army Airfield, Oregon, from June 1941 until he was selected for the Doolittle Mission in February 1942. Lt Pound was the navigator on the 12th B-25 to take off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) on April 18, 1942, and after bombing its assigned targets in Yokohama, Japan, the crew bailed out over China when their aircraft ran out of fuel. He returned to the United States in June 1942, and served as a B-25 navigator with the 379th Bomb Squadron of the 310th Bomb Group in England and North Africa from September 1942 to March 1944. After serving on occupation duty in Germany after the war, Lt Col Pound served with the 1377th Air Force Base Unit at Westover AFB, Massachusetts, before leaving active duty on August 18, 1948. Bill Pound died on July 13, 1967, and was buried at the Santa Fe National Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

His Distinguished Flying Cross Citation reads:

For extraordinary achievement while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese Mainland on April 18, 1942. Lieutenant Pound volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on Lieutenant Pound and the military services.