by Harvey S. Horn (Author)
By Harvey S. Horn. My story is about 36 days that changed my life. It is the story of a Jewish boy from Brooklyn who dreamt of flying and enlisted in the Army Air Corps to fight for his country. It is about survival. It is about walking, riding in trolleys, carts, and trains to go from Fiume, Italy to Nuremberg, Germany. It is about war. It is about the resiliency of the human being and the ability of the body to adapt to conditions beyond one's control. It is the story that all POWs keep replaying over and over and over and over. Could I have done more? Could I have done better? Did I perform as trained? Each day was a harrowing experience. I was the navigator in John Lincoln's Crew 11-30. We were attached to the 772nd Bomber Squadron, 463rd Bomber Group, 15th Air Force based in Foggia, Italy. On March 20, 1945, we were assigned to Flying Fortress B-17G "Pretty Baby's Boys." Our mission was to bomb the marshalling yards south of Vienna at Amstettin, Austria. We were hit by flak over Zagreb, Jugoslavia, and had to ditch into Quarnaro Bay off Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia). We became prisoners of war of the German Navy. Being captured by the Germans is not the best of times; being Jewish and being captured by the Germans is the worst of times.Flight Officer Harvey S. Horn, 15th Air Force, 463rd Bomber Group, 772nd Bomber Squadron.