“Luckily for us, The Underground French Army… was able to rescue us…”

Bill McGlynn

Sgt. Bill McGlynn, age 19, B-17 belly gunner. January 1945. War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 8th Air Force Service Location: England Rank: Sergeant

A brief newspaper clipping and 19 photographs are eloquent testimony to the war service of teenager Bill McGlynn. At 17, he quit high school in his hometown of Utica, New York, to join the Army Air Corps. It was 1943, and the outcome of the war against Germany was still not known. McGlynn wound up in the exceptionally dangerous position of gunner on a B-17 bomber flying missions over Germany. In March 1945 his plane was downed by enemy fire right into the midst of the battle zone. McGlynn survived the crash landing and with the help of French partisans, managed to elude the Germans, who were at that stage of the war in no mood to take prisoners.