Wyman Edwin Osness enlisted in the United States Army in New York City on October 24 , 1940. Although he was originally a soldier in the 191st Tank Battalion, Osness was commissioned as an officer on July 27, 1943, and became a pilot with the United States Army Air Forces. His B-17 was hit by German anti-aircraft fire and subsequently attacked by fighter planes while returning from a mission of Poznan, Poland. Although the pilot ordered the crew to bail out, Osness, who was serving as the co-pilot, did not escape before the plane crashed. Osness was briefly interred in Denmark and the Ardennes American Cemetery before his body was transported back to the United States.