Loren Allen Runolfson was born on April 9, 1918 in Brown County, Nebraska. He served in the 333rd Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division as a Private First Class during World War II. On May 23, 1945, he was a passenger on Flight C-46D (4-77507) which was taking 41 American soldiers that were ill, injured, or repatriated prisoners of war to hospitals in the Paris, France area and was then eventually going to take them all back to the United States. This flight occurred after Germany's surrender on May 7, 1945. However this C-46, for unknown reasons, developed a fire in one of it's two engines and crashed near the village of Taillefontaine, near Paris. All men aboard were killed in the crash. PFC Runolfson died at the age of 27 and is now buried in the Mountain View Cemetery, Walla Walla, Walla Walla County, Washington, USA.