Joseph Marks Sugarman, Jr. was born in Tennessee in 1917 and grew up in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. His parents were Joseph Marks Sugarman Sr (28 Dec 1888 – Nov 1966) and Leila S. Sugarman (abt 1895 – unk). He had a sister, Barbara Sugarman (abt 1924 – unk). His father was a glass dealer for the Binswanger Glass Company in Memphis, Tennessee.

He completed four years of college. In 1940 he lived in Greendale, Indiana, and worked as a chemical engineer at the Seagram Lawrenceburg Distillery in Greendale. His home of record was his father's address at 1648 Peabody Avenue, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army and completed Army Air Forces pilot training. He was assigned a crew, completed B-17 operational training in the States, and deployed to England. The Sugarman crew was assigned to the 839th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. The crew arrived at Station 137 by February 13, 1945, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

On March 11, 1945, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched forty aircraft to bomb an industrial area and shipyards on the south bank of the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany. This was the fifth combat mission for the Sugarman crew.

Lt Sugarman and eight of his crew mates were killed in action on March 11, 1945, when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38888, was shot down by flak at Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft crashed at 1310 hours near Meckelfeld, about 20 kilometers south of Hamburg. One man, radio operator T/Sgt Harvey F. Schlotte, survived and became a prisoner of war. The dead were buried initially at the cemetery in Sinstorf, a southern suburb of Hamburg.

After the war his remains were reinterred at Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium.

B-17G 43-38888 crew:
• Sugarman Jr, Joseph M – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• Crosland Jr, William S – F/O – Copilot – KIA
• Barnett, James S – F/O – Navigator – KIA
• Owen, Charles V – Sgt – Togglier – KIA
• Stanton, Willard W – S/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Schlotte, Harvey F – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – POW
• Mau, Eldon A – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Yaegle, Clyde L – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Berger, Robert M – Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Simac, Edward A – Sgt – Tail Gunner – KIA

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