Stolzy, Robert J. Lieutenant 1923-1944

Lieutenant Robert J. Stolzy was born in 1923 in Bryon Center, Michigan. He was in his freshman year at Michigan College of Mining and Technology when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force on April 6, 1943. After flight training in Missouri, he was sent to England in December 1943 where he flew both P-47 and P-51 fighters as a member of the Eighth Air Force, escorting bombers over Europe and engaging in interdiction missions. He flew forty combat sorties and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on February 24, 1944. On June 19, 1944, while leading a three ship formation over the Cherbourg Peninsula, he encountered heavy weather and crashed. The lieutenant's body was found three years later in a military cemetery at St. Laurent, France and was returned home for final burial.