Stormy Weather

Based on a true story…

Near Heusden, Netherlands, 11 November 1943—

While returning from a bombing mission to Munster, “The Wild Hare,” a B-17 Flying Fortress is shot down over Heusden. Of the ten crewman, eight were captured by Nazi soldiers, and one was killed. One, however, escapes—the one that waits until the last moment to pull the ripcord of his parachute. The cost of a burst eardrum buys his life; the Germans count the parachutes as they open. The soldier hits the ground in a field just west of the village of Hedikhuizen, and loses consciousness. A farm family carries him from the field and feeds him sandwiches and milk, while others dispose of his parachute and flight suit. They tell him to leave immediately, because German troops will be searching the area. He is hustled to a barn in a field to the east of the village. A farmer from Well, across the Maas, finds him. For the next two nights, the farmer and his wife, now eight months pregnant with their first child, shelter the Allied airman in their home.

Following his whirlwind entrance, he depends on the Belgian escape organizations for his survival. Service EVA aids him in Brussels and the Comet Line underground leads him from Brussels to Spain. He is the last Allied airman to escape through the assistance of the Comet Line. The next airman is arrested. The Comet Line is penetrated by the Germans, although it rescued 29 Allied airmen as well as many Jews and French POW’s.

It was a different time. Danger lurked in the unexpected: a knock on a door, a crumpled note, a hushed whisper, or the scuffle of footsteps. Survival hinged on suspicion and lies, on smoke and mirrors. It was a different kind of game. No rules applied.

This is the story of one who played the game. He reached the British territory of Gibraltar on 11 January 1944.