William Aron was born on July 23, 1923, in Oaklyn, New Jersey. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces on October 17, 1942, and entered the Aviation Cadet Program on January 30, 1943, receiving his pilot wings and commission as a 2d Lt in the U.S. Army Air Forces on April 15, 1944, at Foster Field, Texas. After completing P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang training, Lt Aron deployed to England in October 1944, and joined the 318th Fighter Squadron of the 325th Fighter Group in November 1944. He was credited with the destruction of 5 enemy aircraft in aerial combat, plus 1 damaged in the air, between March and April 1945, but was shot down near Padua, Italy, on April 22, 1945. It was reported that he was captured on the ground, but he was officially listed as Missing in Action, and was declared Killed in Action on April 23, 1946. His remains have never been returned.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.