Wayne C. Brotherton was born on June 6, 1924 in Minnesota. He served in the 837th Bomber Squadron, 487th Bomber Group, Heavy as a Sergeant and Spot Jammer on the McCullough crew during World War II. The McCullough crew completed crew training in the States and departed Hunter Field, Georgia on November 26, 1944, bound for England via the North Atlantic Ferry route. The crew was assigned to the 837th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137, near the village of Lavenham, Suffolk, England. The crew arrived at Station 137 by December 7, 1944, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

Sgt Brotherton and four of his crew mates were killed in action on February 20, 1945, when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38596, was shot down by flak after bombs away over Nuremberg, Germany. The aircraft took a direct hit during the turn away from the target, the railroad station at Nuremberg, and exploded within 30 seconds. The Germans reported that the aircraft crashed at Röthenbach an der Pegnitz, 10 kilometers east of Nuremberg, between 1300 and 1400 hours. The dead were buried at the cemetery in Fürth, Germany, just west of Nuremberg.

His remains were transferred and is now buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France.

B-17G 43-38596 crew:
• McCullough, Floyd W – 2/Lt – Pilot – POW
• Elam, Paul J – 2/Lt – Copilot – POW
• Whyte, Thomas C – F/O – Navigator – KIA
• Lehmkuhl, Donald J – 2/Lt – Bombardier – POW
• Taft, Kay S – T/Sgt – Engineer – POW
• Mitchell, Robert E – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Brotherton, Wayne C – Sgt – Spot Jammer – KIA
• Dunham, Hiram D – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Raffel, William P – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Hyatt, Gilbert E – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – POW

Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov