Captain Sandlin was the pilot of a F-80C Shooting Star fighter interceptor with the 80th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 51st Fighter-Interceptor Group. On November 25, 1950, while on a combat mission, after a rocket pass, the aircraft's wing tip tanks came off. The aircraft went into a spin and crashed. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.