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Aaron Elson went to a reunion of the 712th Tank Battalion in 1987, seven years after his father passed away. Aaron was so moved by the stories the veterans shared that he returned two reunions later with a tape recorder. The rest is history. Oral history.

World War II. Sept. 27, 1944. 35 B-24 Liberator bombers. 150 German Fokke-Wulf 190 and Messerschmitt 109 fighter planes. 6 minutes. 25 bombers shot down. Over 30 fighters lost. World War II's most spectacular air battles was also one of its most unusual, in that 45 years later the combatants on both sides got together and dedicated a monument with the names of all of those who died in the battle. This podcast is dedicated to presenting the little known history of that battle.

Hal Mapes was a waist gunner on a B-17, and was one of only two men to survive the collision of two bombers in the sky over Chartres, France. As a POW, he took part in the 80-plus day march across Germany near the end of the war. "Best diet I was ever on," he would say more than 50 years later. "We didn't have anything to eat."

"After the battle, we picked up a German soldier who had been wounded. He had been shot in the leg with a .50-caliber bullet, and had lain out overnight in this freezing, subzero weather. Both of his arms and both of his legs were frozen stiff as a board. He begged us to shoot him. I couldn't do it. I asked for a volunteer. But these battle hardened soldiers would not volunteer. One soldier lit a cigarette and held it to his lips. Another soldier brought him a hot cup of coffee and held it so he could get coffee until we got the litter jeep up there...."

Vern Schmidt was assigned to the 90th Infantry Division in February of 1945, along with two other replacements. Within 10 days, the other two were dead. This interview includes stories from Vern's wife Dona, whose family moved from Texas to California during the heart of the Dust Bowl.