page_title: William Ellsworth Kepner
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: William Ellsworth Kepner / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Brigadier General Jesse C Auton, General Eisenhower, General Spaatz, General Doolittle, Major General William Kepner and Colonel Blakeslee taken on the occasion of the awarding of the DFC Colonel Blakeslee and Captain Gentile. Debden, England.
context_page_description: William Ellsworth Kepner was an officer in the United States Army, United States Army Air Corps and United States Air Force, and a pioneer balloonist and airship pilot.
context_section_description: Ascending through the ranks, in February 1942 he was eventually promoted to Major General in April 1943, and in September of that year took command of VIII Fighter Command in the European Theatre. There he supervised the vital role that the fighters played both as guardians of the 8th Air Force's bombers and as ground-attack support for ground forces, not least in the crucial period around D-Day.
  In August 1944, Kepner took command of the 8th Air Force's 2nd Bomb Division. During the war he flew 24 combat missions in fighters and bombers and received various decorations from his own country and also from several allied nations.
caption: Brigadier General Auton, General Eisenhower, General Spaatz, General Doolittle, Major General William Kepner and Colonel Blakeslee in Debden, England.
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