Vernon Winters was the son of Arthur and Elizabeth Winters.  He had two borthers, Jack and Arthur, both of whom served during the war, and two sisters Freda and Vonda.  According to the US Census, Vernon was 17 years old in 1940, and the family lived at 965 Somerset Ave. in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He graduated from the Arsenal Technical High School on 4 June 1943, and he had worked as a tile setter.

Vernon volunteered for the service in January of 1943, even before he had graduated from high school.  He was ultimately assigned to the 401st Squadron of the 91st Bomb Group where he served as the tail gunner on a B-17 (42-31812) that was piloted by Lt. Van Ausdall and was nicknamed Destiny’s Child.   On 20 July 1944, Destiny’s Child was on a mission to bomb the Mockau Airfield near Liepzig in Germany.  As they came close to the target, Winters spotted German F-109s coming up to attack them from the rear.  The fighters hit one of Destiny’s Child’s engines, damaged its wings, and set the plane on fire.  Van Ausdall gave the order to bailout, and five of the crewmembers were able to do so.  However, the other four, including Winters, were still on board when the plane went into a spin and exploded in mid-air near Chemnitz.  Destiny Child’s pilot, Charles Van Ausdall and its (acting) Flight Engineer Charles Sullivan are also buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery.

Information from The Indianapolis Star of 7 January 1945 (p.1) and 6 June 1943 (p.64), The Arsenal Technical High School Yearbook of 1943, MACR 7281, and an account from the diary of the Bombadier, John Butler, http://www.b17queenofthesky.com/missionstories/destinyschild.html