Sylvester Louis Horstmann was born on April 5, 1917, in Brookport, Illinois. He served in the 368th Bomber Squadron, 306th Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Technical Sergeant and Radio Operator of B-17F #41-24514 during World War II.

On March 8, 1943, the B-17F #41-24514 departed Station 111 at Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, at 11:45 on a mission against the Rennes marshalling yards in France. At 14:30, over Plouguenast (Côtes-d’Armor, France), the bomber was attacked and shot down by a German Fw 190 fighter. The crew bailed out by parachute; however, the pilot was killed when his chute failed to open at low altitude. The majority of the crew were captured and spent the remainder of the war as prisoners, while one evaded capture and made it back to the United Kingdom with assistance from the local resistance and a fishing boat escape.

TSgt Horstmann was taken as a prisoner of war and held at Stalag 17B in Braunau Gneikendorf. He later served as a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, serving in World War II and the Korean War. He died on December 19, 1986, and is now buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Lemay Township, St. Louis County, Missouri, USA.

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