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2nd Lt Harold G. Bruzzi graduated from Passaic High School. He was employed at U.S. Rubber Co. He enlisted in Army Air Corps in December 1942 and was sent overseas in December 1943.

Ofenstein's B24 then went into a steep dive, and was last seen around 15,000 feet out of control with a portion of the tail assembly missing. Two parachutes were seen at this time.

Surviving crew member reports gave some further information on these loss circumstances: a survivor noted later in his Individual Casualty Questionnaire report that the aircraft went into a spin around 10,000 feet with both pilots fighting the controls to regain controlled flight, all to no avail as altitude was being lost rapidly. The Pilot had given an order for all the Gunners to "clear the turrets" and abandon the plane, however he, the Co-Pilot, and Bombardier were last seen in their crew positions as the ship spun down.

Another survivor indicated to another while both were in POW camp at Dulag-Luft interrogation that Sgt Schmeizle's chute had blossomed open while latter was in the waist section; and he was attempting to gather the shrouds up to bail out when the others present then in the waist abandoned the plane successfully.

Another survivor, Lt Purner, the Navigator, confirmed in his report that the Pilot, Co-Pilot and Bombardier went down with the ship, undoubtedly unable to leave their positions due to excessive G-forces in the spinning plane. He indicated further that there were no injured members known about at the time of abandoning the aircraft.