One of the "Lost Airmen of Buchenwald" Joe Moser, 89

From the Jan. 30, CNN.

Joe Moser was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross after flying 44 combat missions. But, he doesn't remember much about the July 30, 1944, mission when he got it. Ten weeks later, on August 13th, he was attacking some German anti-aircraft batteries when his P-38 Lightning fighter was hit and broke up.

His boot got caught on the canopy and after a struggle, he got free and parachuted. By his estimation, it opened about 100 feet off the ground.

French villagers helped him, but a German patrol came by and captured the whole group and took them away. The following morning, two of the French people were taken away and he heard shots and thought they had been killed for helping him. He later found out that the shots were fired at them while they were escaping.

In 1944, he was sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp with 168 fliers where he saw a steady stream of bodies being carried into the crematorium. Allied pilots and airmen were usually not imprisoned in concentration camps. This group became known as "The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald."

A Horrible Thing. --GreGen