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S/Sgt Willard W. Stanton graduated from Saint Mary´s High School in Colorado Springs in 1933. He worked as a sales clerk.

He enlisted in March 1942.

Aircraft 888, piloted by Lt Sugarman, went down over the target as a result of flak. The initial damage was sustained at an altitude of 24,000 feet, a big concussion was felt in the left wing and the aircraft peeled off steeply to the left. The general concensus of opinion is that A/C 888 then went into a fast dive. Some feel that it was spiralling and then went into a spin. Some report that there were moments when it seemed as if it would recover but that it was losing altitude too quickly. There was no fire observed, only faint smoke coming from one of the engines just before it disappeared. All props were turning. Some thought that the A/C disintegrated just before it disappeared into the clouds. Although no chutes were seen a gunner in A/C 598 saw 4 small objects come tumbling out. When last seen the aircraft was going straight down, in a slightly south-easterly direction.

One man, radio operator T/Sgt Harvey F. Schlotte, survived and became prisoner of war. The nine men who died were buried initially at the cemetery in Sinstorf, a southern suburb of Hamburg, Germany.