Lee Sanders came to Thurleigh as a ground armorer. He was a Left Waist Gunner in the 306th Bomb Group/368th Bomb Squadron and had completed 12 missions when he was shot down on his 13th, the 5 April 1943 mission to the ERLA works in Mortsel, Antwerp, Belgium in B-17 #42-5431 "Lil Abner". The crew bailed out and saw their plane exploded. Landing in and around a factory, most of them were quickly gathered up by the Germans. Sanders, however, managed to evade capture for a time, with the help of Belgian citizens and members of the Résistance. Caught in a trap laid by Belgian traitor Prosper De Zitter, he was arrested in Paris on 24 July 1943. Prisoner of War (POW) in Stalag Luft 3, Sagan/Zagan, Poland. Force-marched from there to Stalag 7A Moosburg, Germany. Liberated there by US troops on 29 April 1945. Prisoner of War (POW).