On 30 December, 1951, during a routine training flight from Merced, California, to Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Lt. Robert G. Westlund lost his life when his F-51 "Mustang" fighter plane crashed near Sunset Peak in the Galiuro Mountains northwest of Wilcox. A combat veteran of the European theatre of Would War II, Lt. Westlund was a dedicated officer and a decorated fighter pilot. The wreckage was removed from the mountainside in 1991. He fought, flew, and made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms and ideals of this nation.