John Lonsdorf was born on June 1, 1913 and was from Superior, Wisconsin. He served as the Flight Engineer on B-24 (42-51964) of the 778th Bomber Squadron, 464th Bomber Group which was based out of Pantanella Airbase in Italy.
On October 17, 1944, this plane was a mission to bomb the heavily defended city of Vienna. Over Vienna, the plane was hit and badly damaged. Two of the crew were killed in flight; the others parachuted out and all were captured except for one who died on impact. A memorial in Zohor, Slovakia remembers the plane and two crewmembers who died with the plane.
Lonsdorf was taken as a POW (Camp 13D LUFT 4 & 6 7A NURNBURG) and remained there for the rest of the war.