December 03rd, 2017

Take a moment and think back to when you were 21 years old.  What were you doing back then?  I'm guessing that most of you  were starting careers or going to school or both, and you were probably in love.   As for me, I was living in the basement of a dank old house, taking classes and working jobs and running track/cross country at Colorado State.  I wasn't so much in love but I did discover a new level of beer and music.

​At 21 years old my Pop was piloting a B-26 Martin Marauder bomber, the most difficult and dangerous airplane to fly in WWII, over the English channel into occupied France.  Through flak and fighters, he was responsible for the lives of 5 crewmen.  When he was shot down he spent 16 months in a German POW camp under horrific conditions.

​This video captures the incredible tale of my father getting the chance to reunite with the B-26, the airplane he last sat in just before he bailed out of a burning cockpit into the hands of German troops.   The video won top prize at the Prescott Film Festival.  And it's under 10 minutes long so check it out.