Ervin Frank Schropp was born on May 25, 1924 in Dickinson, Stark County, North Dakota. He was the waist gunner of the B-17 43-38660 which took off from Station 119 in Horham, Suffolk, UK, on a mission to bomb Heilbronn, Germany on 20 January 1945. Shot down by flak over Hirtzfelden, France. Six of the crew parachuted safely and were taken prisoner (including Schropp) while four died in the wreckage. Ervin survived the war.

Ervin was killed by electrical shock when a television tower he was helping dismantle toppled against a high tension wire carrying 60,000 volts at Vernon Junction, four miles southwest of Shelby. Sheriff's deputies said the television tower toppled as it was being taken down and the top of the antenna came in contact with an Ohio Power Co. transmission line. Schropp was an employe of the Westinghouse Electric Corp., worked part-time for the Hersch Television and Radio Co., Springmill St., and was on a job for the television firm at the time of his death. He died at the age of 30.

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