ONES WHO GOT AWAY: Mighty Eighth Airmen on the Run

A remarkable collection of accounts of intrepid American aircrew shot down over enemy lines during World War II who eluded the prison camps and how they got away. P-47 pilot Joel McPherson feigned appendicitis and was able to escape from the local German military hospital - after he had his appendix removed. He spent weeks operating as a getaway driver for a Maquis bank robber gang before making it into neutral Spain. Bomber crewmen Fred Hartung and Norman Therrien found refuge at a French château, but later nearly froze to death crossing the icy Pyrenees with the Gestapo on their trail. The accounts of these men and others from the Mighty Eighth make this a story of defiance, foolhardiness, and bravery against the odds. To be an airman in the Eighth Air Force flying over the war-torn skies of Europe required skill, tenacity, and luck. 50,000 were downed over Occupied Europe and of these 3000 got away. Those who were shot down and evaded capture needed all of that and more if they were to make it back to friendly lines. These are their stories and how a spider's web of escape routes sprang up, created by local resistance groups across the Netherlands, Belgium and France. They were given false papers, and hidden to be smuggled back to England; capture would mean certain death for the airman and the helpers. Each story is compiled from the original intelligence debrief written by the pilots or aircrew themselves. Their accounts are sometimes funny, often heartbreaking. 8 pages of photos. 320 pages.