Bill Kongable was born in 1926, in Hominy, Osage County, Oklahoma. He joined the US Army in 1944, and was assigned to an Antitank Company of the 354th Infantry Regiment of the 89th Infantry Division. He served overseas from January, 1944 to May, 1946.

Bill’s unit crossed the Rhine River and liberated Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, the first concentration camp to be liberated by the US Army. He continued to fight across Germany until the war ended, and then served in the Army of Occupation. After the war he lived in Panama, and then returned to the United States and worked as a chemical engineer.