A WAR STORY

Bill bailed out through the nose wheel hatch, embracing and clutching Morton Smith, the mortally wounded bombardier whose chute was left behind in flames. Incoming flak had lifted the right nose section off the body of the aircraft. Making sure to clear the spinning aircraft, Bill waited a few seconds to pull the rip cord while holding the bombardier in tight embrace. But when the chute released the bombardier was gone. The pull from the releasing chute tore him off the grip.

Bill’s descent was rapid; going down, his chute was riddled by flak. Looking up, he saw Flame McGoon blowing up in midair. She was a legendary B-24 Liberator D, having flown 75 flawless missions, stationed in San Pancrazio, Italy.

He saw two chutes open. He came close enough to shout at Sgt Archie Stein to try for a gorge. Impossible because they landed about 100 yards from the flak battery. Soldiers were firing in their direction. He waved his white handkerchief. The soldiers came over and disarmed him of his 45-pistol. One of the German soldiers spoke English.

The date was 31.7 1944. The time was 10:35 AM. Bill was 22 years old. This was his 50th mission. The mission target was Targoviste, Romania, oil storage facility of the Ploesti oilfields. The shootdown was over Bor, Yugoslavia. Six of the crew of ten survived. They were captured on the ground, held as POWs. Three men were killed during their descent by enemy gunfire from the ground. And Morton Smith who lost his grip on Bill.

To be continued…..