[930addict]

I have a great Uncle who was a bombardier on the B-17. He flew several bombing runs during WW2 and reenlisted three times even though his time was up. On the flight back from the last bombing run, his last run for WW2, they encountered German fighters over the English channel. The B17 was shot up and they were forced to set the plane down in the water 20 miles away from the English coast. The weather was inclement and there were 30 foot swells. The B17 had two life rafts, one on each side of the plane and each life raft held four airmen. The life raft on the right was shot up during the attack which left only the one but six crewman survived the crash in the water. Four made it to the raft. The surviving crewmen each wrote their accounts of the incident to our family stating that they saw my Uncle Bill swimming toward the raft when he suddenly stopped and looked in their direction while a large swell came through and obstructed their view of him and the other airmen in the water. When the swell passed my Uncle and the other airman were gone.

I have some old video of my great Uncle along with some of the crew he flew with. These guys were the real deals. Indeed the greatest generation.