Herbert Brill was born on February 27, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. During World War II, he was a B-17 Navigator with the 327th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group. On December 31, 1943, he and his crew took off from Podington Airfield (near Rushden, England) to bomb the Bordeaux-Merignac Airfield near Bordeaux, France. Just after their B-17 (#42-3186) dropped its bombs, it came under attack by German fighters. The fighters took out all four engines. Goldstein controlled the plane into a belly landing in a farm field near Bordeaux. All crew survived, but four were captured. The other six, including 2Lt Brill, made it back to England with the help of French partisans. He returned to the UK on

2Lt Brill died on April 17, 2009, and is now buried in the Pacific View Memorial Park, Corona del Mar, Orange County, California, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, francecrashes39-45.net