William enlisted in the Army on 14 September 1939.

On 20 June 1944, Pvt Chandler was transferred from the 19th Replacement Depot to Service Company, 508th PIR.

He was sent on detached service to the 407th Airborne Quartermaster Company on 26 August 1944.

 
Class B Pass
[courtesy of the Hutchinson family]

This pass, issued by the 407th Airborne QM Company on 11 September 1944, permitted Pvt Chandler to be anywhere within the Leicester, England city limits from 0600 to 2400, daily.  The pass was authorized just prior to  his return to duty with the 508th Service Company in late September.  He was subsequently transferred to Company C on 21 November 12 1944 where he was appointed as Pfc on 1 January 1945..

Pfc Chandler was listed as "injured in action in Germany" on 25 January 1945 and evacuated to a field hospital.  A official report from the office of the Surgeon General states he was processed at an "Aid Station, Clearing or Collecting Station, Dispensary" in January 1945 with penetrating wounds to the abdominal wall or pelvis.  He was then transferred from the aid station to a field hospital as that same report records that in February 1945 he had been released from a "Portable Surgical, Evacuation, or T/O Convalescent Hospital" for a blast injury to the head.  That is consistent with the Morning Report which shows he returned to duty on 10 February 1945.

Another set of Morning Report  entries show that just three days later, on 13 February he again a battle casualty and returned to duty on 18 March 1945.

Although the headstone application states that William was KIA on 5 July 1945, the war had ended by that date. There is a conflicting, but unsubstantiated, report that he died in a train crash while returning to the U.S. after serving in Frankfurt. This document from the National Archives indicates that his death was attributed to a "Non-Battle" status which lends some credence to the train incident yet no record of such a crash has been found.