WEBVTT 00:02.009 --> 00:04.670 I had a brother . That was killed in 00:04.670 --> 00:07.989 Messina , Italy , and , uh , he was 00:07.989 --> 00:11.819 with Patton's army and he , uh , Uh , 00:14.170 --> 00:14.510 Well 00:17.719 --> 00:20.260 Retired US Army Sergeant Larry Stevens , 00:20.629 --> 00:22.685 Dodgers thank you for your service . 00:23.299 --> 00:25.632 Sacrifice and dedication to our country . 00:25.879 --> 00:27.935 We hope you have a great time in the 00:27.935 --> 00:28.990 ballpark tonight . 00:44.169 --> 00:46.610 How many missions did you complete ? I 00:46.610 --> 00:49.750 completed 35 missions , and , uh , 00:50.130 --> 00:52.880 nobody got wounded . Nobody got shot up , 00:52.889 --> 00:56.409 uh , at , uh , the airplane . We , we 00:56.409 --> 00:59.490 did get hit a lot of times by , by Flak 00:59.490 --> 01:03.330 or even German fighters , but we , we 01:03.330 --> 01:05.889 were very lucky and survived 35 01:05.889 --> 01:09.089 missions . I was a tail gunner on a 01:09.089 --> 01:12.050 B-17 , 95th bomb group . 01:20.209 --> 01:22.970 One like incredibly terrifying moment . 01:23.879 --> 01:25.935 That you didn't think you're gonna , 01:25.935 --> 01:28.212 we're not gonna get out of this . Yeah , 01:28.212 --> 01:30.379 that was our 3rd mission . I , the way 01:30.379 --> 01:32.435 they shoot flack at you , you , when 01:32.435 --> 01:34.599 you start a bomb run , everything's 01:34.599 --> 01:36.839 turned over to the bombardier , and the 01:36.839 --> 01:38.870 bombardier is now flying the air 01:39.269 --> 01:42.059 airplane . And he was controlling the 01:42.059 --> 01:44.480 speed and as he controlled the speed . 01:45.949 --> 01:49.750 He slid under the whole group of the 01:49.750 --> 01:52.349 planes bombing above us with their bomb 01:52.349 --> 01:56.120 bay doors open and as a tail 01:56.120 --> 01:59.559 gunner brand new third mission we were , 02:00.110 --> 02:02.309 I was sitting in the tail and , and 02:02.510 --> 02:05.839 they'll put up an imaginary box that 02:06.029 --> 02:08.750 you fly through and , and it's to whom 02:08.750 --> 02:09.750 it may concern . 02:48.850 --> 02:52.029 But as where we were , we were in , in 02:52.029 --> 02:54.869 the very bottom corner of the mission 02:55.070 --> 02:58.669 on the 3rd mission , and they started 02:58.669 --> 03:01.550 shooting flak at us and , and training 03:01.550 --> 03:05.330 us . They shoot . 4 times reload 03:05.580 --> 03:07.889 and start another 4 , but the seconds 03:07.889 --> 03:10.929 are going down from the moment that the 03:10.929 --> 03:12.818 shooting starts . So I called the 03:12.818 --> 03:14.985 co-pilot because we were in touch with 03:14.985 --> 03:17.207 the co-pilot and the pilot was in touch 03:17.207 --> 03:19.262 with the other aircraft in the sky , 03:19.262 --> 03:23.130 and our co-pilot's name nickname was 03:23.130 --> 03:25.729 Ruby and I said , Ruby , get us off the 03:25.729 --> 03:28.410 bomb run or they're gonna nail us and 03:28.410 --> 03:32.059 he didn't respond . So the 2nd series 03:32.059 --> 03:34.440 started and again we're clicking down 03:34.820 --> 03:37.899 to 0 and I said , Ruby , get us off the 03:37.899 --> 03:40.010 bomb run or they're gonna nail us and 03:40.010 --> 03:42.899 he still didn't respond . So but again 03:42.899 --> 03:46.740 I didn't know that that he was in 03:46.740 --> 03:48.962 talking to us and the pilot was talking 03:48.962 --> 03:51.820 with the other aircraft . So while , 03:51.940 --> 03:54.179 while we were doing this , all of a 03:54.179 --> 03:57.940 sudden I looked up and 19 were 03:57.940 --> 04:01.130 above us and we're underneath and uh 04:01.460 --> 04:04.660 the bomb bay doors are open and uh and 04:04.660 --> 04:08.559 I'm thinking boy they're gonna nail us 04:08.940 --> 04:12.479 the last 7 seconds as we went down 04:12.660 --> 04:16.380 7654 well . 04:21.839 --> 04:24.559 We had 3 and 2 would would have blown 04:24.559 --> 04:27.679 us up . Well , the pilot had taken over 04:27.679 --> 04:30.720 the the plane again and he flipped the 04:30.720 --> 04:33.739 plane right at the last second . It was 04:33.880 --> 04:37.679 100% timing . God was with us , and as 04:37.679 --> 04:40.279 he flipped the plane , you could hear 04:40.279 --> 04:42.440 the , the flak hitting the bottom of 04:42.440 --> 04:44.607 the airplane like they threw gravel at 04:44.607 --> 04:48.540 us . Ruby , 04:48.619 --> 04:50.563 the co-pilot said , wow , that was 04:50.563 --> 04:52.786 meant for us . And I said , that's what 04:52.786 --> 04:55.779 I was trying to tell you . So that was 04:55.779 --> 04:58.779 the 3rd mission . Tell us about the 04:58.779 --> 05:01.500 time your aircraft sustained the most 05:01.500 --> 05:04.140 damage . We got a direct in . 05:05.750 --> 05:08.000 For some reason , God saw to it that 05:08.010 --> 05:11.309 that was the one without flak , and it 05:11.309 --> 05:13.399 went through , got a roll of wiring 05:13.709 --> 05:17.190 about 3 , 3.5 inches , and , uh , went 05:17.190 --> 05:19.459 up the pant leg of the top turret 05:19.459 --> 05:23.390 gunner and . I . Got 05:23.390 --> 05:25.660 his parachute , opened his parachute , 05:25.989 --> 05:28.750 but when it hit his leg , he said to 05:28.750 --> 05:31.083 himself , he felt the tug , and he says , 05:31.149 --> 05:33.316 gee , this is , this is what they tell 05:33.316 --> 05:36.380 you . You lose a leg . So he says , he , 05:36.390 --> 05:38.612 he reached down and he said , Well , my 05:38.612 --> 05:40.834 leg is still there . He says , I'm OK , 05:41.880 --> 05:45.579 you know . They must have been 05:45.579 --> 05:47.579 tracking us all the time , but they 05:47.579 --> 05:49.635 could never catch up to us . We were 05:49.635 --> 05:51.690 always just one step ahead of them , 05:51.690 --> 05:54.739 but we got 29 missions out of our 05:54.739 --> 05:56.179 airplane full house . 06:09.679 --> 06:12.359 We were not flying in our airplane when 06:12.359 --> 06:15.130 it was shot down . We were in the flag 06:15.130 --> 06:18.799 shack and this brand new crew was shot 06:18.799 --> 06:19.799 down . 06:27.359 --> 06:30.440 Uh , the the future generation , 06:30.880 --> 06:34.519 well , we're still speaking English and 06:34.519 --> 06:36.779 we're not speaking German or Japanese . 06:37.200 --> 06:40.880 I'd say if it's our country we have to 06:40.880 --> 06:44.399 protect it and , and if they wanna 06:44.399 --> 06:46.510 protect the country , that's the name 06:46.510 --> 06:46.619 of the game .