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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
W. C. Brokaw

On 5 January 1945 we were flying with the 95th Bomb Group on Mission No 18 over Frankfurt Germany we were hit with flak. Number one engine was on fire, number two took a burst of flack in fuel tank which exploded above us, and number three froze with flack in the engine. We were flying on number fore. The pilot rang the bell for bail out. I refused to jump and the rest of the crew backed me. As I think I was the only sergeant to fly a B-17 cross country from takeoff to landing, from Sioux City, IA to Madison Wis. And was well qualified to fly the B-17. The pilot then decided to stay with the plane. We landed on a B-26 base in France. By the way, I was a washed out cadet. We would have likely been killed if we were taken prisoner as the German people were killing all they could. We continued to finish our 35 mission with no one hurt.