Deaths: Donald E. Casey Sr, --Part 2: Shot Down Over Germany

While flying on his 28th mission in June 1944, German anti-aircraft fire shot down his plane.  All nine crew members survived a parachute jump from 23,000 feet, but four were killed by civilians in Hamburg, Germany.

Casey and the other four were captured and transported under guard to prisoner-of-war camps in Poland and then Bavaria.  He and his fellow prisoners were liberated by Gen. George Patton's Third Army in April 1945.

After the war, he received his undergraduate degree in economics from Dartmouth College in 1948 and then worked in investment banking before returning to Chicago where he got his law degree in 1957.

For many years, Casey would not talk about his wartime experiences, but about 25 years ago he began researching about World War II and attending meetings with veterans around the country.  He also began editing a newsletter for the 379th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force.

In his eighties, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

--GreGen