From MisterAdvocate at aol.com Wed Mar 2 01:23:07 2011 From: MisterAdvocate at aol.com (MisterAdvocate at aol.com) Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 20:23:07 EST Subject: [Blindvet-talk] A true hero!Fw: The last mission............. Message-ID: <11fd0.52c6e232.3a9ef5fb@aol.com> In a message dated 3/1/2011 5:59:17 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, nfbnj at yahoo.com writes: Dwight, a true hero. Read the following and forward to others. Best, Joe Ruffalo Keep believing. Keep dreaming. Keep learning Let's work together. Let's make a difference! Joseph J. Ruffalo President, National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey Phone: 973-743-0075 Please visit our State and National Web Sites _http://www.nfbnj.org_ (http://www.nfbnj.org/) _http://www.thruoureyes.org_ (http://www.thruoureyes.org/) _http://www.blindchildren.org_ (http://www.blindchildren.org/) _http://www.nfb.org_ (http://www.nfb.org/) Email: _nfbnj at yahoo.com_ (mailto:nfbnj at yahoo.com) A day before his last mission aboard a B-17 bomber in World War II, Norbert Swierz, a 23-year-old gunner, who had already survived the ditching of his first B-17 in the North Sea in the summer of 1943, sat down on his bunk and jotted down a poem for his mother back in Michigan. 'I go so gladly to my fate, whatever it may be, That I would have you shed no tear for me, Some men must die, that others must be free, And only God can say whom these shall be.' The next day, Sept. 6, 1943, "Skeets" Swierz and the rest of the crew of the B-17 nicknamed "Bomb Boogie" took off from their base in England ..... but didn't make it back. Shot down and taken prisoner, Swierz would spend the rest of his war days in a German POW camp. This year it had been almost 70 years since Norbert Swierz, 90, of Palm Harbor, stepped aboard a B-17 bomber. This time was better than the last, a combat mission over Nazi Germany. "This one is a joy ride all the way," Swierz said Swierz was invited to ride along as the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour brought two vintage bombers from Kissimmee to St. Petersburg/Clearwater airport for a flying-museum exhibit that runs through Sunday. The skies were cloudy and vaguely threatening, but nothing like Swierz's combat flight experience in 1942, when he served as a top-turret gunner during 14 combat missions in Europe. "For the first time in my life I get on a B-17 knowing that no one's going to be taking a potshot at me," Swierz said. During his first combat mission, Swierz said, his plane was so badly damaged from enemy fire that crew members had to throw out everything that moved just to maintain altitude. That included Swierz's parachute. Eventually, the pilot had to ditch the bomber with its 10-man crew in the North Sea, amid towering waves. "In a storm, in the middle of a mine field," Swierz said. "It doesn't get any better than that." Swierz was badly wounded by a 20mm cannon round fired from an enemy fighter plane and credits the cold water with keeping him from bleeding to death until rescuers arrived. His crew didn't know they were in a mine field. They complained about the slow progress of the rescue crew as it zig-zagged toward them. After three weeks in the hospital, and a couple more weeks recuperating, Swierz returned to his turret gunner's position for more missions, most of them aboard a B-17 called "Bomb Boogie." At the end of one bombing run, the pilot ditched the disabled plane at the foot of England's White Cliffs of Dover because he couldn't gain enough altitude. On Swierz's 14th mission, his luck ran out during a punishing bomb run over Stuttgart, Germany. "A burst of flak through the bomb bays and we had to bail out," Swierz said. "That's when I was captured." Swierz spent the next 22 months as a prisoner of war at Stalag 7 and eventually Stalag 17, the camp that inspired a motion picture and the TV comedy Hogan's Heroes. Swierz said the real thing wasn't much like either of those Hollywood depictions. Life was tough for American prisoners and far worse for Russian prisoners nearby. During his captivity, Swierz said, he escaped three times, twice for a matter of hours. "I guess I felt it was my duty to get back and fly again. I loved flying in those things." His most successful bid for freedom lasted six weeks. He and fellow POW's managed to trek from Austria to a location near the Yugoslavian border before their capture. Freedom finally came when units of Gen. George Patton's 3rd Army arrived and the German army surrendered. At 90, Swierz shows little swagger as he recounts his combat exploits. He doesn't remember fear as much as regret at seeing five dozen airplanes shot down during one mission, 60 aircraft and 600 men. He received medals for his wounds, his valor and the effectiveness of his gunnery. He was credited with three kills and two probable kills. His reaction to the B-17 ride, so many years later? "This one was a joy ride all the way."