After high school, Bill attended Western Washington College for a year, playing baseball with the semi-pro team, the Bellingham Bells, until he turned 18 on April 14, 1943 and was able to join the Army Air Forces, planning to be a pilot. He was called to active duty in August, 1943. After basic training he was assigned to a semester college training program at the University of Arkansas. Testing for flight training was next and Bill qualified for pilot training. The Air Force had a surplus of pilots but needed navigators so Bill chose navigation and, by late summer, 1944, had earned his wings and commission as a 2nd Lt. After assignment to a crew and further training, the next step was assignment to the 96th Bomb Group as a navigator to RAF Snetterton Heath Airfield, 339th Bomb Squadron.



Bill’s crew started flying combat missions in January, 1945. His B-17 (#44-6897) was heading back home after Bill’s 13th bombing run when they were hit by enemy fire on March 9, 1945. That had happened to this crew before (Bill got his first purple heart from shrapnel injuries from the first time they were hit) and Bill figured they could coast back into friendly territory. So he objected to the pilot’s order to bail out. Lt. Fechter said, “Lt., look out your window.” Bill did and saw only flame where the wing should have been. He jumped. Lt. Fetcher was the last person on the plane to bail out seconds before the plane disintegrated. Bill later learned that his His #1 engine was feathered when #2 caught fire, sending the plane into a spin which broke off the left wing. He credits his pilot with the fact that the entire crew survived.



Unfortunately for Bill, he landed in trees too low to stop his chute and he crashed through to the ground hitting hard with crossed legs, crushing vertebrae and causing temporary paralysis. Helpless, he watched as people from the small German village rushed toward him armed with forks or shovels or anything they could grab. Bill was a prisoner of war.



Because of his back injury Bill was kept in the Dulag Luft prison camp near Wetzlar, Germany. Bill hid the severity of his injuries as best as he could so he would not be sent to a German hospital. In fact, he had pushed a fellow crew member (Joe Stilwell), who had broken his ankle and couldn't walk, in a wheelbarrow most of the way to the camp. On March 29, 1945, he was liberated by the U.S. 4th Armored and 99th Infantry Divisions and was part of the triumphant entry into Paris. On his 20th birthday, Bill left Camp Lucky Strike on a ship for his trip to rehabilitation at Madigan General Hospital at Fort Lewis in Washington State, a few hours from his home. The rest of his service was as a patient and then out-patient. He was discharged as a 1st Lt. with 2 purple hearts and an air medal.



After he left the Air Force, Bill completed his education at Washington State College (now WSU) and then University of Illinois. Once he had his masters degree, he was ready to return to Washington State to be a coach, his dream since the age of 10.



He and his wife Nancy had five children. They eventually settled in Yakima, Washington.

During a distinguished 26-year career at Yakima Valley Community College, Bill served as a physical education instructor, baseball and football coach, athletic director, department chairman, and two-term president of the faculty union. His baseball teams won 664 games, 11 conference championships, and 18 league titles, placing him number one on the list of most successful baseball coaches in the history of the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC). In addition, Faller also led the 1964 football team to YVCC’s first and only football conference title. Upon his retirement in 1987, the NWAC named the conference baseball championship trophy in his honor. Bill has been inducted into the Yakima Valley Community College Athletics (1984), Central Washington Sports (2006), Washington State University Athletic (2011), and NWAC (1991) Halls of Fame.



He has always had back pain from his injuries but they have never stopped him from living life fully.