whole story. He didn't quite understand who we were until after about an hour he says, "You're Merrill Barnes' boys. He saved all our lives". We didn't understand that until we found that the other plane shot down that day bailed out over Vienna and several were executed on the ground.

My dad reported that the tail gunner was KIA and the tailgunner had a telegram on his mantle from the War Dept telling his parents that he was dead. It wasn't until they found him in Moosburg, Germany, that they realized he was alive.