Milton Levine was born in Massachusetts on February 18, 1917, and lived at 9 Landor Road, Mattapan (Boston), Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He was one of five children of Harry Levine (abt 1889 – 1956) and Mae Levine (30 Mar 1893 – Apr 1981). His father was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States about 1904. His mother was the daughter of Russian immigrants, and was born in Massachusetts. His siblings were Sidney Levine (abt Jul 1915 – 1963), Natalie Levine (abt 1921 – 2015), Daniel Levine (12 Feb 1924 – 21 Jan 1995), and Phyllis Levine (abt 1928 – 2016). He completed four years of high school, and worked as a skilled compositor and typesetter. He was single , without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Boston, Massachusetts on July 24, 1942.

He completed Army Air Forces bombardier training in Class 43-14 at Big Spring, Texas, and received his wings and appointment as a Flight Officer on October 7, 1943. He was then assigned as bombardier on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew that was taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area to the west of the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. F/O Levine and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.

Remains of Flight Officer Levine were found in the English Channel on July 3, 1944 by the crew of British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192), and were buried at sea in the English Channel that same day. The British did not give any details about the recovery or the condition of the remains, but the burial at sea was reported by a Staff Officer, Intelligence, C-in-C's Office, Portsmouth, England. A statement typed on the Report of Burial shows that the remains were identified by a photograph (an "escape photo") recovered with the remains, which was positively identified as being that of F/O Levine by friends and members of his unit. The identity was also confirmed by the laundry mark "3014" (last four digits of his Army serial number) found on a piece of clothing. An Army Air Forces insignia shoulder patch was also recovered.

None of the other crew members was ever found.

Flight Officer Levine and the other officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery. The enlisted men are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery.

B-24H 42-52629 crew:
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA

Source of information: Paul Webber, www.findagrave.com