Stanley Stepnitz was a Pilot in the 362nd Fighter Group / 378th Fighter Squadron (9th Air Force). He was on his 30th mission, flying on an unidentified P-47 to bomb targets in the Seine River in the area of Rouen, France on the evening of 20 August 1944. His plane got a direct Flak hit just after Stepnitz pulled it out of a diving attack. He bailed out at about 1000ft and landed in a field near Beuzeville, east of Deauville, France. He had been hit by a piece of Flak in a finger of the left hand and had a torn ligament in his left ankle on landing in parachute. Taken in charge by French civilians, he was first hidden in local farms and houses then was put in contact with a maquis organization who kept him hidden in the area until the arrival of Canadian troops on 26 August 1944. Stepnitz flew back to England from Temporary Airfield A-27 (Rennes-St Jacques) and was back in the UK on 2 September 1944. His Escape & Evasion report is E&E 1348. He stayed in the USAF after the war and ended his military career as a Lt. Colonel. Stanley Stepnitz was a member of the Air Forces Escape & Evasion Society (AFEES).