My cousin was like your dad in that he didn't talk about his experiences. Even his wife didn't know much of it, other than some sleep issues. I had the chance to talk with him shortly before he died at a family party. He opened the conversation with "Lucky Number Seven" -- bullsxxt! That was his last mission, but in retrospect, he admitted it was lucky for him. The flak tore away much of the right side forward portion of the plane from the bomb bay to the nose. The bombardier next to him was killed instantly, as was the co-pilot and the flight engineer right behind the co-pilot. He and the pilot were unhurt, as was the rest of the crew, and they bailed out. How the plane landed as it did was something of a mystery to him. By rights, it should have nosed in and landed in a heap. He and the rest of the crew were captured and he and the pilot spent the next couple of years in Stalag Luft 3, site of the "Great Escape". (The movie had an error in that the Steve McQueen character, an American pilot, was housed with the Brits and Canadians. That wasn't true as the Americans and Brits were kept in separate parts of the POW camp. Dramatic license, eh?)

The mission that his plane was shot down was supposed to be a fairly quiet one compared to the one he was on at Schweinfurt. Poop occurs!

During the war, we occasionally received letters from my cousin through the Red Cross. They were on a flimsy little fold up sheet of paper that served as letter and envelope. that you could almost see through. I'm just sorry none of those letters survived with my mom and dad.

Harvey