Williams was still stationed in Europe at the time of his death. He was assigned to a raid over Hamburg, Germany on December 31st, 1944. During that raid, he was responsible for piloting the aircraft and maintaining the crew, as he had been for many of his previous missions. The specific details of the mission were to bomb the Rheuania Ossag Oil Refinery. It was one of what have been many missions of this type, he was piloting a B-17G with a serial number 43-38124. During the mission there was noted to have been a large amount of flak, and while flying, a bombshell impacted the side of Williams’ plane. At the same time, a nearby plane was impacted and the two planes collided. Williams’ plane was recorded to have been split in two and exploded before crashing into the ground. Due to the nature of the impact, it is speculated that Williams died when his plane exploded. Three of the ten crew members survived and were made prisoners of war by the Germans. The remaining seven were buried by the Germans in a local cemetery, Williams' body was later moved to the American Memorial Cemetery in the Netherlands. His family was notified that he was missing in action after his death, and he was noted in the Missing Air Crew Report 1163, but his death was not confirmed until a year later in 1945. He died at the age of 21.