Veterans' Memorial Project

William Edgar Brotherton

Guthrie, IL

World War I

College: Engineering

Graduation Year: 1913

Service Branch: Army

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Date of Birth: 12/18/1893

Date of Death: 10/10/1918

Lt. Brotherton enlisted at Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois school of military aeronautics, October 20, 1917. As one of the “300” selected for training by the RFC, he received flying instructions in the Canuck in Canada and then at Taliaferro Fields, Ft. Worth, Texas, until 1918. Lt. Brotherton is officially credited with downing multiple airplanes and observation balloons during his military service. On October 10, 1918, while strafing a balloon near Dun sur Meuse, France, he crashed and was killed. Lt. Brotherton earned the Distinguished Service Cross and WWI Victory Medal with 5 battle clasps and 2 gold overseas chevrons. He was reinterred at a Gibson City, Illinois, cemetery, September 18, 1921.

-Submitted by Derrick Babbs; information taken from University of Illinois 1929 Directory and other University resources and cemetery records

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