James Darell Stotts was born on March 23, 1922 in Texas. He was the son of Hiram Wesley Stotts and Corrie Boyd Stotts. He was a graduate of Slaton High School and had studied one year at Cameron Junior College, Lawton, Oklahoma prior to the service. He was a waist gunner aboard a B17 Flying Fortress when his plane crashed in Switzerland on April 24, 1944 after a firefight over Germany. While on a mission to bomb Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, nine Luftwaffe fighters shot out two of the bomber’s engines and then pursued and constantly attacked the damaged aircraft all the way to Switzerland. Stotts survived and was interned in Switzerland.

According to a crewmember’s report, Stotts was not physically injured, but “could have been mentally affected” by the traumatic events of his final mission. Another crewmember related that “[Stotts’s] mind wasn’t right after that.” The sergeant was subsequently hospitalized for twenty-five days in a mental health institution in Waldau, Switzerland, but then was inexplicably released. According to a Swiss medical official, the Swiss physician treating Stotts claimed that he was “cured,” and reported that “the patient’s behavior seemed to be very orderly and natural, without hallucinations.” Therefore, the doctor requested that Stotts be transferred back to his camp at Wengen, where he “could completely recover more quickly than in the hospital.” A few days later Stotts reportedly experienced “a violent short-lived state of catatonic excitement with religious inspiration” in which he wrote and talked impulsively. He subsequently “jumped from a hotel window and died of his injuries.” He was temporarily buried in what was then the American Cemetery in Münsingen, Switzerland. His final resting place is in City of Lubbock Cemetery, Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas, USA.

Source of information: https://www.newspapers.com, https://cdr.lib.unc.edu