Lacy Collinsworth was born on October 3, 1921 in Magoffin County, Kentucky. He was the son of Walter Collinsworth and Myrtle M. Marshall Coffel. He joined the Army in WWII on August 1942 at Indianapolis, Indiana. Lacy first went to Scott Field, Illinois and graduated in the Radio Technician School. In January 1943 he was sent to Harlingen, TX and where he completed a machine gunner course. He was assigned to the 8th Army Air Corps.

Lacy became a Staff Sergeant and a Ball Turret Gunner on a Lockheed/Vega B-17F-35-VE Fortress, Serial #42-5907 nicknamed "Wing and a Prayer" in World War II. This bomber was in the 563rd Squadron, 388th Bomb Group, 45th Combat Wing, 3rd Air Division of the 8th United States Army Air Force. He went to Wendover Field in Utah to join his crew and plane for the flight to England about June 1943.

A member of the Fuller crew, they were the first 388th Bomber Group crew to be lost in action. They went down in the North Sea on the return route. The crew was on their first mission. His name is commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing, Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands. Lt Collinsworth was one of the many brave Americans of the 388th Bomber Group who lost their lives in aerial operations against the German forces from June 1943 - August 1945.

Source of information: https://www.fieldsofhonor-database.com, www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov