Steffen Jobst, 2016:

"I nominate Sidney Eugene “Gene“ Brown as a shining example. Sidney Eugene "Gene" Brown was born in Gainesville on October 24, 1924 and was a lifelong resident of Alachua County. He was a carpenter and worked as a superintendent for the Triest Construction Company in Keystone Heights. He enjoyed the outdoors, especially fishing and camping, and loved to care for his family. He served in the United States Air Force as a tail gunner aboard a B-24 during the Second World War and participated in eliminating Nazi terror from Europe. The B-24 with serial number 42-110107 was named Wham! Bam! Thank you, Ma'm. (Slang for the act of having sex without even bothering to try to get the woman to achieve orgasm) It had Warner Bros. Character "Bugs Bunny" as noseart. His aircraft belonged to the 491st Bombardment Group. The group was an Eighth Air Force B-24 Liberator unit stationed in England,
assigned to RAF North Pickenham in early 1944. The group flew 187 combat missions. On Aug. 24, 1944, the 8th Air Force launched mission number 568 from North Pickenham with 485 B-24s, 834 B-17s, and 739 fighters. Sidney Brown was 19 years old at this time. 433 B-24s were dispatched to attack aviation industry targets at Brunswick/Waggum (125), Brunswick/Querum (99) and Hannover/Langenhagen (72) and an oil refinery at Misburg (88); 5 others hit targets of opportunity; they claimed 0-0-1
aircraft; 5 B-24s were lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 183 damaged; 1 airman was WIA and 54 MIA. Escort was provided by 248 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; they claimed 2-0-0 aircraft in the air and 8-0-0 on the ground; 2 P-51s were lost and 2 damaged; 1 pilot was MIA. B-24 #42-110107 dropped out of formation 15 miles north of Hannover with one engine smoking and feathered.

The crew consisted of: Pilot- 2nd Lt. Norman J. Rogers Jr., Co-Pilot- 2nd Lt. John N. Sekul, Radio Operator- S/Sgt. Thomas D. Williams, Belly/Gun- Sgt. William A. Dumont, Left/Waist Gun- Sgt. Elmore L. Austin, Nose/Gun- Sgt. William M. Adams, Tail/Gun- Sgt. Sidney E. Brown, Flt. Eng.- S/Sgt. Forest W. Brininstool, Nav. Bombardier- Flight Officer Haigus Tufenkjia.

The Wham! Bam! was heavily damaged and the bail out order was given. The crew landed in a farm area. Staff Sergeant Brininstool had suffered a shrapnel wound in the stomach, and was very fortunate when a farmer couple took him in and cleaned his wound. The rest of the crew was rounded up by Luftwaffe personnel and placed in a cell in the town hall. Sergeant Dumont and Second Lieutenant Rogers  suffered ankle injuries. The complete crew was taken to a German Air Force base near Munster. Staff Sergeant Brininstool was taken to a clinic where a Doctor operated on his stomach wound, then placed him in a hospital in Munster for further treatment, later sent him to a POW interrogation center near Frankfurt. While on a 12 hour train ride, the remaining eight crew members ran into a bombed out section of railroad track near Russelsheim and were forced to detrain. Gene passed away at the age of 84 on Friday April 10, 2009 in Gainesville. In Rüsselsheim nobody took notice of his death.”

Steffen Jobst vermerkte im Anschluss an eine Veranstaltung zur Präsentation der zur Auswahl eines „Leuchtenden Vorbilds“ 2016 vorliegenden Vorschläge zu dem von ihm eingebrachten Vorschlag Sidney Eugene Brown: "Ich habe den Vorschlag zurückgezogen und werde ihn wieder einbringen, wenn die Möglichkeit besteht Sidney Brown angemessen als leuchtendes Vorbild zu präsentieren." Bereits während der Veranstaltung am 9.11.2016 im Ratssaal hatte Herr Jobst verkündet, dass er seinen Vorschlag zurückzieht.

In den Richtlinien zur Auswahl von „Leuchtenden Vorbildern“ für das Kunstwerk im Ratssaal der Stadt Rüsselsheim am Main ist festgehalten: „Sämtliche Vorschläge, seit Beginn der Kunstaktion, werden bei allen zukünftigen Auswahlverfahren berücksichtigt und wieder in die Beratungen einbezogen.“ Daher wird Sidney Eugene Brown auch weiterhin als Vorschlag geführt.