Mr. William S. "Bill" Tune, 88, of Florence, passed away Thursday, October 30, 2008, at his home.
A celebration of his life will be Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Florence with Rev. Gary Formby officiating. Burial, with military honors, will follow in the Florence Cemetery. The family will receive friends in the atrium of the church from noon until service time.
Bill volunteered in the U.S. Army Air Force in the spring of 1942 while in his senior year at Berry College. He was returned to Berry to complete his degree and await a training space in Flight School. He began flight training in November of 1942. Following completion of Flight School, Lieutenant Tune, now a bomber pilot, flew his new crew and bomber from Kansas City across the Atlantic Ocean to Italy where he joined the 20th Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group, 15th Air Force at Amendola Air Field. Bill and the 20th Squadron flew repeated missions over the most heavily defended targets in Central Europe to include the Ploesti oil fields, the armaments factories at Blechhammer and Vienna.
Bomber crewmen were returned to the United States following completion of 50 missions due to abnormally high casualty rates among aviators. During his 48th mission on August 20, 1944, Bill was lead pilot for the 20th Squadron on a mission to northeastern Czech Republic when his plane was among 10 bombers shot down by German fighters. Severely wounded, Bill parachuted from his plane and landed near the village of Rudice where he was assisted by Czech citizens. Eventually captured, he spent several months in hospitals in the Czech Republic and Germany before internment in Stalag Luft I as a POW. Bill was liberated from the Stalag in May of 1945. Bill and Fran maintained close relationships with the survivors of the 20th Squadron as well as the courageous Czechs who showed kindness and assistance to the downed flyers.
Bill was born in Carbon Hill, Alabama, on November 27, 1919. He earned an Industrial Arts degree at Berry College and a B.S. in Architecture at Auburn University. Bill practiced architecture for more than 50 years as a partner in the firm of Barr and Tune and later the firm included Henry Tyree, William Wynne and Fitzgerald Hill. In addition, he served as a member of the State of Alabama Board for Registration of Architects for over a decade. He was a longtime, active member of First United Methodist Church of Florence.
His designs included such commercial buildings as Athens-Limestone Hospital, Athens, Alabama, Joe Wheeler State Park Lodge, Rogersville, Alabama, and Flowers Hall at the University of North Alabama, and numerous churches throughout the area.