Another vet takes a ride on his plane.

Well, not "his" actually, but a B-17. He was shot down over Germany in 1943, and this is his first time back in one since that time.

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- A day before his final mission aboard a B-17 bomber in World War II, Norbert Swierz sat down on his bunk and jotted down a poem for his mother back in Michigan.

"I go so gladly to my fate, whatever it may be. That I would have you shed no tears for me," wrote the 23-year-old gunner, who had already survived the ditching of his first B-17 in the North Sea that summer of 1943. "Some men must die, that others must be free. And only God can say whom these shall be."

The next day, Sept. 6, 1943, "Skeets" Swierz and the rest of the crew of the B-17 nicknamed "Bomb Boogie" took off from their base in England, but didn't make it back. Shot down and taken prisoner, Swierz would spend the rest of his war days in a POW camp and not fly in another B-17 for close to 70 years.

Goto:

News from The Associated Press

 

Wonderful story. I'm so happy for the vet. We had that Collings Foundation B-17 at our local air show last year. It was a privilege and a treat to tour it.

But I didn't have the jack to go for a ride.

tom