Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Time With Sy Ellenhorn

JR, Sy Ellenhorn, Nicolle, and Nancy
One of our latest interviews has been by far one of the most exciting for me out of all of the interviews I have done so far.  Sy Ellenhorn, a waist gunner on a B-24 based out of Italy from 1943-45. During his service in the Second World War he flew 40 missions over Germany, Austria, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. During one of his missions between 1943 and 1944, he and the rest of the crew were forced to bail out of their plane over the Adriatic due to battle damage. He was picked by a British convoy and given temporary rest before going back to fly again. It was shortly after his return to flying that he was informed that he was now a member of the Caterpillar Club, which was joined by having successfully bailed out of an inoperable plane using a parachute. He was given a pin and certificate that he showed us during the interview.  Along with the pin and certificate he showed us many of the photos that were taken during his service as well as his service medals and his leather flight jacket.  After the interview he posed for photographs in his Army Air Corps jacket and even gave us the tour of his 1850’s home. I have to say that Sy is one of the funniest and most hospitable people I have ever met in my life.
After our interview with Sy our group managed to get him in contact with William Landis, who was our first interviewee and also a B-24 crewman.


--JR Bauer 

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