William Warren Sykes was born on April 18, 1919, in Audenried, Carbon County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of William Henry Sykes and Pearl A. Pfeffer Sykes. He was married to Catherine Sykes Feldmeyer. He served in the 328th Bomber Squadron, 93rd Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Second Lieutenant and Navigator of B-24D #41-23711 nicknamed ''Jerks Natural'' during World War II.

On October 1, 1943, the B-24D “Jerk’s Natural” was returning from a bombing mission over Wiener Neustadt, Austria, when it fell behind its formation and was attacked by German fighters. The aircraft was heavily damaged, entered a spin, and crashed into the mountains northeast of Graz, near Heilbrunn and Brandlucken in the Austrian region of Styria. Nine of the ten crew members were killed in the crash, with only the navigator surviving and taken as a prisoner of war.

2Lt Sykes parachuted into the mountain village of Heilbrunn, where he was soon captured by German forces. He was taken as a prisoner of war and held at Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan-Silesia in Bavaria until the end of the war. He also served in the Air Force during the Korean and Vietnam wars. He retired in 1970 as a Major. He then did some surveying work in the orange groves of Florida. Major Syked died on July 27, 1993, and is now buried in the Glen Haven Memorial Park and Mausoleum, Winter Park, Orange County, Florida, USA.
Source of information: www.flickr.com, www.americanairmuseum.com, www.wikitree.com