See the real story

Turns out there are lots of versions, but nothing that ever talks about being sucked out of a plane or a freefall. Some stories talk about him, jumping out of a burning plane that was going down But in his own words, he says that he landed the plane and walked along the lake



On his 18th mission, Capt. Cardenas’ plane was shot down over Germany when its right wing was severely damaged by a shell and both engines caught on fire. He landed on the German side of Lake Constance, and he walked along the north side of the river at night to evade the Nazis.

“I went down, and the Germans never got me,” he said. “I walked along the river at night and started swimming across, which is when I made a fatal mental mistake.”

As a child, Cardenas swam miles in the ocean. However, three miles in the ocean is far different from traveling the same distance in freshwater.

“I think I had a near-death experience,” he said. “First it was panic, then resignation, then a kind of calmness. Then, a Swiss man in his rowboat tapped me on the head.”

Rescued and taken to Switzerland, Cardenas was eventually flown back to the United States to recover from a head injury.
“As an only child, my mother was very protective and scared I might hurt myself,” Cardenas said. “My parents were floored when I went down, and [they] assumed I was KIA, or Killed in Action.”