William Harrell Nellis was born in Santa Rita, N.M., on March 8, 1916. Shortly thereafter, his family relocated to Searchlight, Nevada. When not attending grammar school, Nellis helped his grandmother run the Searchlight Hotel. After graduating the eighth grade, the Nellis family moved to Las Vegas. Nellis attended Las Vegas High School, where he played on the football team; he graduated in 1936.
In 1939, Nellis married Las Vegas native Shirley Fletcher. They had two children, Gary and Joyce. Nellis' job with the railroad kept him out of the Army at the outbreak of World War II, but he enlisted in the Air Force, reporting for active duty as an aviation cadet in March 1943. By August, he'd completed primary pilot training in Albany, Georgia, and was appointed a flight officer.
Nellis was shipped to Europe, where he was assigned to the 513th Fighter Squadron, in July 1944. He flew 70 combat missions in P-47 Thunderbolts, a practically indestructible plane built by Republic. Nellis was shot down three times. In September 1944, a Las Vegas daily newspaper, the Evening Review-Journal, printed a long letter Nellis had written home to his father-in-law, in which he described the harrowing experience of bailing out of his crippled airplane, parachuting into France, and being rescued by a farmer.
Nellis received several awards, including two promotions, his second to 1st lieutenant. In late December 1944, he was flying low over Luxembourg, strafing a German convoy heading to Belgium to participate in the major counteroffensive in the Ardennes Forest area known as the Battle of the Bulge. His plane was hit by ground fire, burst into flames, and crashed; Nellis never exited the aircraft.
In April 1945, the Air Force confirmed that 1st Lieutenant William H. Nellis had been killed on Dec. 27, 1944.
In April 1949, the Air Force began its Memorial Program to honor individuals who distinguished themselves serving their country by naming military air installations after them. Nellis was chosen unanimously by local civic organizations.
In May 1950, at the start of the Korean War, Las Vegas Air Force Base was officially renamed Nellis Air Force Base. At the dedication, a plaque paying tribute to William Nellis was unveiled by his nine-year-old son Gary.
