Bill McKinney was the son of Frank (1877-1957) & Nellie R. (16 January 1890- June 1974) McKinney, William moved from Nahma to Big Bay with his family in 1928. An avid baseball-and Detroit Tigers-fan, he could often be found with his ear pressed to the speaker of the McKinneys' floor radio, straining to follow a static-filled game broadcast. Bill was employed as a mill hand before enlisting in the Army at Marquette in December 1942.

As of mid-December, he was stationed at Camp Wolters, TX, and on 14 February 1943 he wrote home from there: "Well, I have only four more weeks to stay in this camp. I hope that they send me to Australia so I can clean up on the Japs, and I really mean that…I only hope that they send me in the same place (as his brother Ed), that's all I ask of them…I'm really trying to be a good soldier. That's why I got in this man's Army."

As of mid-March, 1943, William had been moved to Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. On 28 March 1943, he lightheartedly wrote to his kid brother Herbert in Big Bay, "So you think that Ed's quite a brother. Well, I do, too. But don't you or any of the family put too many hopes on me because they may backfire." The 10 July 1943 Marquette Daily Mining Journal noted that "Pvt. William McKinney, U.S. Army, is home for a fifteen-day furlough from Camp Van Dorn, Miss." According to the Wednesday, 21 July 1943 DMJ's Big Bay column, William "left Saturday for Camp Carson, Colo., where he has been transferred… after spending a furlough here with his parents…" 5 January 1944 DMJ reported an additional visit to Big Bay: "William McKinney, stationed with the U.S. Army at Hot Springs, Colo., has returned to camp after spending a furlough here with his parents…"

Around January 1944, he was promoted to Private First Class, and as of 3 February 1944 he was training at Camp Roberts, CA. As of 26 May 1944, PFC McKinney had been transferred from Camp Roberts to Fort Meade, MD, and a 9 June 1944 letter home was addressed from "Somewhere on the east coast." By June 20th, his mail was addressed from a New York APO, and a June 30 letter (postmarked July 13th) read, "Somewhere in England." His last letter home appears to have been a V-mail written on August 3rd (but postmarked 17 September 1944), indicating that he had been assigned to Company F, 47th Infantry-and that he was now a sergeant, an event he had playfully assured his brother Herbert would never happen (no corporal, no sergeant, no lieutenant…and if he couldn't be a general, well…).

William had only been overseas for about three months at the time of his death. Besides his parents and sister Alice Pauline, who at the time of his death was a W.A.C. private stationed in Africa, he left his two brothers, Herbert Alfred (3 September 1930 - 11 May 1999), at home, and Edward Theodor (29 August 1914 - 2 February 2000), a staff sergeant with the U.S. Army engineers in New Guinea; and four more sisters, Florence Minerva (20 May 1906 - 26 April 1984), Juanita Viola (4 May 1922 - 11 December 1986, Monica Lucile (1 April 1924 - 13 March 2002), and Lillian Madonna (7 June 1928 - 27 June 1995). According to Monica's daughter, Karen Hansen, there were two other McKinney children who died as infants: Mary Jane (6/39/1905-7/1/1905), and Goldie May (5/17/1909-5/30/1909).

The 28 November 1944 Daily Mining Journal informed its readers that "Mr. and Mrs. McKinney yesterday expressed their gratitude for the sympathy and condolence cards they have received." William McKinney was awarded the Purple Heart. Correspondence between William's sister, Pauline, serving overseas, and their mother, Nellie, chronicles the loss of a brother and son. By 7 November 1944 Pauline knew that William had been wounded in Europe: "Dear Mom, I received your letter saying Bill had been wounded. That really surprised (me). I guess I had begun to think nothing could ever happen to the ones I loved. I hope it's not serious."

By 27 November she had been told that her brother had not survived. "Dear Mom, I received your letter Sunday. Bill's death sure was a shock to me. I didn't expect it at all. I never once thought that could happen to us. The war seems closer than ever now. I feel as you do about Bill not suffering. He wouldn't (have) wanted to live if he was all crippled. He was too active to ever be an invalid. My dear, Ed and I will soon be home. Don't worry, we will both come home safe and sound." On 11 December 1944, knowing her brother Ed might be coming home from the Pacific on a furlough, Pauline wrote to her mother, "When you tell Ed about Bill remember Ed's a soldier. Mom, did the government say how Bill got hurt? My dear, don't worry about me. The only thing dangerous here is the dance floor. It is slippery for cement."

On 4 January 1945, Pauline to Nellie McKinney: "Mom, We can only wait and pray it was a mistake about Bill's death. We won't be sure until you receive his personal belongings. I'm glad you heard from Ed. I hope he will be home soon…" A day later, "I had hoped that the Army was wrong about Bill. But, my dear, you will have to try and be a brave soldier like he would want you to be. We will have to do like Ed is. Remember him as the biggest-hearted and grandest pal we ever had. This war is really harder on you civilians at a time like this. I'm too busy to think all day. And all the boys in uniform make it easier for me. Some seem like our own boys. And we really have some swell boys here. But I'll really miss Bill when I get home."

On 23 May 1945, Pauline composed her next-to-last letter home: "Dear Mom, I received your letter today and was sure glad to hear from you. (I'm) sorry about Ed being so ill. You had wrote and said he had malaria. By the sound of your letter he still has it. Mom, about Bill, one way I'd like to have his body where we could take care of the grave but then I'd rather remember him as I saw him on his last furlough. Alive, laughing, and teasing us all. If his body was to be brought back, I'd want to see him, and I imagine they wouldn't allow us to open the coffin, and that would really hurt. Frankly I don't know what to tell you to do about it. You had him a lot longer than we did. So do what you think is best."

Pauline died in a transport plane crash with 17 other WACs, leaving Africa for England, one week later.

These days my Bill McKinney rests in the beautiful American Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle ... He is remembered and honored by his entire family. He is honored by every visitor of the American Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle and by every visitor of this website. he is also remembered and acknowledged on a monument in the family plot in Big Bay Cemetery.

Both Alice Pauline and Bill are also remembered and acknowledged on a monument in the family plot in Big Bay Cemetery.