George Wilson Springer III was born on September 2, 1923, in Saint Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri. He was the son of George W Springer and Anna Mae Morley Springer.

George served in the 406th Fighter Squadron, 371st Fighter Group, as a Second Lieutenant and Pilot of the P-47 #42-76522 during World War II. On October 17, 1944, he took off from Y-7 airfield in Dole/Tovaux for a dive-bombing mission at the Sélestat sector in France. At 11h59, he was shot down during aerial combat and crashed 500 meters north of Village-Neuf (Neudorf) - 4 km north of Bâle (Basel). His aircraft was destroyed completely by the explosion in the crash. 2t Springer was killed in this incident.

Leader's Report - (Original) - (source: National Archives US - MACR 9650): 1Lt Charles C Borden - I was leading the Blue section on an operational mission with Lt Springer flying the Blue Two position. We encountered Bf109s on a frontal pass. There was a P-47 in that flight that fired at Lt Springer. About a minute into the fight, I saw a P-47 behind me and called Lt. Springer to see if that was the case. He answered "Yes." About another minute went by and I looked back and noticed he was gone. I called him on the radio but received no response. That was the last time he was seen by any Squadron member.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, francecrashes39-45.net