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S/Sgt Willard R. Best was a flower grower before he enlisted in Peoria, Illinois on 15 March 1943.

Statement of Billy Anderson, S/Sgt, Waist Gunner:
This plane that was hit (771) was flying in the high group and was flying about off our left wing and high, and the ME-109 came up from his tail and leveled off and then the B-17´s started on fire and winged over to the right, went down under our left wing and then it blew up. Then I saw one chute open up.

Six crew members were killed, four were taken prisoner. The six casualties were initially buried at the Leipzig-Lindenthal Cemetery on 26 August 1944. A field investigation after the war could only recover the remains of 2n Lt Daniel P. Giove (bombardier). At that time, three remains were evacuated to St. Avold Cemetery as unknowns but further investigation could just identifiy one.

The two other remains were segregated and redesignated as X-1047A and X-1047B. The three sets were then declared unidentifiable and buried as unknown American service members in American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) cemeteries in Europe.

In 2017, while studying American losses and unidentified remains recovered from outside Leipzig, Germany, a DPAA historian determined that X-1047A, X-1047B and X-183 could likely be associated with crewmembers from Best’s B-17G Flying Fortress.

In April 2019, the Department of Defense and ABMC disinterred X-1047A, X-1047B and X-183 and accessioned the remains to the DPAA laboratory for identification.

To identify Best’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

S/Sgt Best was given his final resting place on 24 September 2021 at Memorial Park Cemetery in Staunton, Illinois.

At the Walls of the Missing at Margraten, a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.