In World War II ten young men from all over the United
States came together to form the “Rosacker” crew in the 93rd Bomb
Group of the 8th U.S. Air Force, flying B-24 Liberators based in England.
They flew 24 missions together during the closing months of the war.
Their last mission was on January 28, 1945. The target was
in Germany's Ruhr Valley, also known as “Flak Alley.” They lost the 1
engine with the heavy flak, and had to drop out of formation. Another B-24
next to them was blown up by a direct hit from the anti-aircraft
batteries. A second engine quit, and a third was losing power (they only
had four engines). The choice was to ditch in the North Sea and die of
exposure, or try to make it to an airfield in Belgium, which was occupied
by Canadian troops. But the plane was going down fast. At 1,000 feet they
bailed out.
Then they heard the bullets. Below them was a German army
camp in occupied Holland. The enemy bullets and their own plane (which was
circling back on autopilot) somehow missed them, but the men were
captured, and the narrow escapes continued, one after another. Their
captors took them “out back,” where the Americans thought they would
be shot, but were not; the German civilians wanted to lynch the airmen as
they were led on a forced march through Bavaria from one POW camp to
another. A few times U.S. fighter planes even shot at the men before
realizing they were POWs.
Miraculously, all ten fliers survived the war. Fifty years
later nine of the ten airmen finished this book, working together to
refresh and correct each other's memories.
This a great adventure, but it is also often very funny,
deeply intelligent, and extraordinarily human. These men were heroes.
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