*Much more was learned of the fate of Lt. Osborn’s men when the crew’s engineer, Sgt. W.E. Wolff, successfully evaded capture and returned to Molesworth on April 30, 1944 after crossing the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain and reaching Gibraltar. He reported that the crew’s B-17 was hit by flak that severed the rudder cable shaft causing the aircraft to leave the formation. Lt. Osborn turned back at 11:25 hours at 15,000 ft., under control, with three FW-190s heading to attack. The German fighters made three attacks during which a number of crewmen were wounded and Sgt. L.B. Evans, the tail gunner, was shot out of the aircraft and killed. The attacks ceased when Lt. Osborn managed to hide in a cloud bank at 12,000-15,000 ft.

After flying a short distance, Lt. Osborn crash-landed the B-17 in a farmer’s field at Froid Chappel, near the Luxembourg-French-Belgian border. Sgt. L.W. Fitzgerald, the ball turret gunner, died of his wounds shortly after the crash-landing. Belgian civilians arrived at the crash site and directed those among the crew who could to scatter. A Belgian doctor treated two of the wounded, Sgt. G.L. Daniel, the radioman, and Sgt. E.D. Wolfe, the left waist gunner, who were later captured by the Germans and became POWs. Lt. E.L. Cobb, the navigator, was also captured by the Germans and became a POW.

Lt. Osborn and Lt. J. Jernigan, Jr., the copilot, evaded capture for six months with the help of the underground. However, they were later betrayed while leaving Brussels for Paris in an automobile when they were driven to a Gestapo prison. They remained in the hands of the Gestapo for two months before being transferred to a regular Luftwaffe prison camp.

The bombardier, Lt. N. Campbell, also evaded capture, successfully making it to Gibraltar by way of Belgium, France, and Spain. He returned to Molesworth a month and a half after Sgt. Wolff, on 17 June 1944.

Most remarkable and heroic of all was the fate of Sgt. Vincent J. Reese, the right waist gunner, who made contact with the underground and opted to stay and fight with them rather than evade and try to return to Allied lines. He participated in underground actions involving the destruction of German installations, but was captured along with 22 other members of the underground and executed on April 22, 1944 in a woods near Chimay, Belgium after the group was discovered hiding in a shack. Sgt. Reese is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery, Martgratten, Netherlands.