Les Amundson’s doomed B-17 bomber sped toward a
turnip field in The Netherlands. A woman on the family
farm watched openmouthed as the
Flying Fortress skidded the length of a
football field before groaning to a halt.
It was November 26, 1943, the day
of Amundson’s first and last bombing
mission.
The Dutch Resistance led the pilot
to a hayloft. Traveling with the
Underground in Holland for a month,
he eluded capture. But the Gestapo
finally caught up to Amundson in
Amsterdam. He was taken to Stalag
Luft 1, a POW camp 100 miles north
of Berlin.
Amundson survived 18 months in captivity before Operation Revival evacuated him and 9,000 other prisoners.