Prisoner-of-war camp
Born in Billings, Montana, Talcott received his degree from Stanford University in 1942, after which he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps where he became a bomber pilot. On a mission in a B-24 over Austria, Talcott was shot down and captured, spending 14 months in a German Prisoner-of-war camp. Upon his discharge from the military in 1945 he received the Air Medal and Purple Heart with clusters.