The Lucky Ones: Airmen of the Mighty Eighth
by Erik Dyreborg
Category: History

The Lucky Ones is a collection of stories gathered from the wartime experiences of a few US airmen who served in the 8th Air Force Bomb Groups in England during WWII. The stories in this collection, narrated by the airmen themselves, recount the harrowing adventures the airmen endured in their most trying missions over Europe. These are stories of encounters with enemy fighters, struggles to control flak-damaged planes, grueling crash landings, and desperate bail-outs from burning planes. Many airmen, fortunate enough to survive these experiences, were captured by the Germans once on the ground. Their treatment at the hands of their captors is painfully re-told here. Miraculously some airmen managed to evade captivity and escape the Germans, sometimes as an entire crew. In the course of the war, more than 30,000 young Americans lost their lives over Europe. As one airman said: “The real heroes...were the many...who died in combat.” These are the stories of other heroes who survived what seemed certain death. These are the stories of The Lucky Ones.