John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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YANIVS CUURAGE CHARLES CARTER NAWARDED FOR meritorious service. . . . meritorious. Those words echoed through his head. Bob Keith could not believe what had happened to him in the past three months. His thoughts wandered back to a cloudy day, May, 1944. The sky was overcast above the English Channel and the steady hum of the motors was the only comforting thing. The crew of Blue Boy a B-17 bomber were ex- cited and nervous This was the first combat mission for most of them They all loved their new plane and they bragqed about it like a bunch of grown up kids They relied on each other from the pilot down to the waist gunner He was a strange character that waist gunner His name was Sgt Robert Keith of New York An ex playboy who used to throw money away while others strove to get it He was tall lanky and had the face of a High School Senior To the other fellows he was just another guy with the same courage as the rest of them In his heart he was scared Sure so were the rest of them but he was scared m a different way Afraid of a lot of things that other people would call In the lme of duty I dont know why he chose the Air Force Maybe he thought he would become a somebody or come home a hero or a thousand and one other ideas He found it wasnt as easy as that and he would jump at the first opportunity to transfer or maybe even go over the hill A voice broke the silence of the intercom It was Sandy the pilot We should be running into the Ierrys pretty soon all gunners had better recheck their guns No sooner had he stopped talking than a sharp voice buzzed over the intercom Enemy fighters diving at two o'clock. The ship lighted up with excitement, with all guns blazing at the planes overhead. The opposition was too great and in a few minutes they had the rear control surface shot to shreds. They got Emie, the tall gunner, in the first couple of bursts. Emergency hatches were immediately opened as the gallant Blue Boy dipped his nose towards the fields of France far below Then it came A thlng a flyer hates to do The order to bail out No one actually fears this moment until it comes Thoughts scurned through Bobs head He would have to jump or go down with the plane Cold sweat rolled down his neck as he fastened his chute straps around hs legs He closed his eyes waited a moment then plummeted down down through space How the chute ever opened st111 remains a mystery Part of the operung mechanism was shot away Almost immediately tne Ierrys started firing short bursts of ammuntlon at the large silk canopys over the heads of the doomed men Common sense made him play dead but the others didnt have to act Thmkmg they had killed all the planes headed back to join in the slaughtering of the rest of the squad ron Bob hit the ground with a jolt and was sent sprawling Then every thing tumed black 'EQ' wr-'Ks -f ig. 18 1 1 I I . . I I ' 1 . , I . . . - 1 , 1 1 . I I 1 1 1 . . . I 1 1 . . , 4 I I - I I 1 1 1 I I I 1 1 1 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . , I 5 I I I 1 L I I I ' I . 1 . 1 I- - 11 - 1 - . . . 1 - 1 I ' - I I I I - 1 I I U I I I ' 1 1 ' . ..,. , . F . ' - . . 1 ',' ' ' . . :::,:..1'1,k.' I I .3' . A 0, - 5 .5 'ff '- . 1' . . , .c- tt . . iixgij Q - . , - xx ' , gg... - . .ca . . . Q , - 11 3 .1 .. . , - -, I .m 3 . , Q: ,at--'.. me I ff 'fp I - -. .-

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When he awoke he found hxmself lymg on a bed m asmall madequately furmshed room Dlrectly across from h1m sat a thm mlddle aged man w1th a dark complexxon typlcal of a person who spent long hours workxng out of doors Wh Where am I? Who Who are you? Let me mtroduce myself the man lnterrupted Im Messr Andre Lamont I found you lymg 111 the fmeld a few hours ago I saw what the Germans dld to you and your comrades I 1mmed1ately brought you here to my farm house I saw to 1t that your umform and parachute were destroyed for safetys sake What umform what para chute? Your Alr Force un1form Tell me son what IS your name? My name? It s-I I cant remember I pened to me a few hours aqo The Frenchman retold the story of how the Germans shot down the plane and how they fued at the crew who were parachutlng down Bob could not re call any such 1nc1dent It was ev1dent that he had a senous case of amnesla In the next couple of weeks he was glven refuge from the Nazls by van ous members of the underground They called h1m Yank because he was an Amencan If only Andre La mont hadnt destroyed hls un1form He mlght have found sultable lden t1f1cat1on to tell h1m who he was and exactly where he came from But h let 1t go at that and went under h1s assumed name of Yank Then the day came Iune 5 1944 The day before the European mva sxon of France Secret IIISIIUCIIOHS wzth all necessary equxpment were supplied to d1fferent parts of Nor mandy The Underground had been contacted by shortwave and all ar 19 rangements for the followmg day were completed There was a rallroad bndge near the coast that would be useful to the Germans It had to be demol1shed Three volunteers were asked for The work would be dan gerous and the only reward mlgh be death Ten men stepped forward only three were chosen Bob was one of them Maybe he shouldnt have volunteered After all lus was dan gerous work But he was mdebted to the French people for what they d1d for hxm and many others l1ke h1m No one knew h1m or any of h1s past l1fe If anythmg happened to h1m no one would know the dlfference The next mornmg at prec1sely 3 AM the ra1lroad bndge was blown to kmgdom come One of the men was lalled and Bob and the other one were senously wounded The rest of the mvaszon IS recorded hxstory He was sent to a hospltal mn England Later hls background was traced He often wondered how he spent money and wasted 1t so freely And how he ever could have been such a person People often p1t1ed hxm and felt sorry for hun because of the handxcap whlch he bore but after all blmd men are happy . u u - I 1 ., . 1 F? 1 . A 'ff , I ' I Ii I ' I ll II I don't remember what you say hap- ' . , ll K ' - I ll I ' I e . . . . . , I I I 0 .. , - .