Alan Magee

by , KilroyTrip

On January 3, 1943, the B-17F-27-BO flying fortress Snap! Crackle! Pop! of the 360th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group of the 8th US Army Air Force was on a mission to bomb the German U-boat base at Saint-Nazaire.Alan Magee left his turret following FLAK fire rendering it inoperative, but above all because he was wounded in the chest, doing so, he realized that the shot had also torn his parachute!Then a second shot hits the B-17 on the right wing; the explosion causes the B-17 to fall, ejecting Alan, who prays for salvation during his fall before losing consciousness. After a drop of 6700 m without a parachute, he crossed the canopy of the Saint-Nazaire railway station, the German soldiers finding him trapped and unconscious on the steel girders of the structure.Seriously wounded, 28 shrapnel wounds, one arm almost torn off, severe injuries to his face, knees and ankles, the German doctor in charge of first aid will tell him, We are enemies, but I am a doctor first and will do my best to save your arm. Well cared for by German doctors, Alan Magee would survive the World War II.Returning to the USA he would receive the Purple Heart and the Air Medal, he would also pass a pilot's license. Alan Magee will inaugurate the stele erected in memory of his comrades-in-arms on September 23, 1995