IamaWW2POW

I always say that we were a generation strained in a very specific way. The depression had a huge influence on my life and still plays a role in who I am. I think people were more prepared for hardship back then than they are today. That being said some of the service members today have been at war for over ten years. And they are volunteers. We were not tested like that.

I didn't see it crash. When we jumped out it was still flying. We rode the parachutes down and I honestly didn't know what to do. We took ten steps. Then we were fired on by Germans. In broken english they said "for you the war is over" (evidently that was a famous cartoon back in the day)

We were interrogated and it was pretty surreal. Just like the movies. I ended up talking to my interrogator about the Cleveland Indians. He spoke perfect english.

Jugs! I flew those for 8 months in the pacific. They were heavy but they had a great turning radius and they were tough to beat up at altitude. We would always tease the Marines in the F-4Fs and try to get them to follow us up to 25,000 ft.....

Lots of firepower!

We got attacked in southern Germany. We were able to make it to Yugoslavia but were so badly damaged that aircraft couldn't sustain flight. All ten of us parachuted out and survived.

EDIT: My grandson made a mistake. Aircraft get damaged not injured. We lost two engines.

Not only that you get a picture, too!