The Ones Who Got Away: Mighty Eighth Airmen on the Run in Occupied Europe

by Bill Yenne

A remarkable collection of accounts of intrepid American aircrew shot down over enemy lines during World War II and how they got away.

To be an airman in the Eighth Air Force flying over the war-torn skies of Europe required skill, tenacity, and luck. Those who were shot down and evaded capture needed all of that and more if they were to make it back to friendly lines. These are their stories. Each is compiled from the original intelligence debrief written by the pilots or aircrew themselves.

Bill Yenne details how a spider web of escape routes sprang up, created by the local Résistance. Downed airmen were clothed, given false papers, and hidden so they could be smuggled back to England. These efforts were then supplemented by Allied intelligence agents. But the risks remained the same. Capture could mean death.

Their accounts are sometimes funny, often heartbreaking. P-47 pilot Joel McPherson feigned appendicitis and was able to escape from the local German military hospital – after he had his appendix removed. He spent weeks operating as a getaway driver for a Maquis bank robber gang before making it into neutral Spain. Bomber crewmen Fred Hartung and Norman Therrien found refuge at a French château, but later nearly froze to death crossing the icy Pyrenees with the Gestapo on their trail. The accounts of these men and others from the Mighty Eighth make this a story of defiance, foolhardiness, and bravery against the odds.

Genres: World War II

446 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 4, 2024

About the author

Bill Yenne is the author of several novels and over three dozen books on historical topics. He has also been a contributor to encyclopedias of both world wars.

The New Yorker wrote of Sitting Bull, his biography of the great Lakota leader, that it "excels as a study in leadership." This book was named to the number 14 spot among Amazon's 100 Best Books of the Year.

Library Journal observed that "enthusiastic World War II readers will be drawn to" his dual biography, Aces High: The Heroic Story of the Two Top Scoring American Aces of World War II.

Recently, his book Convair Deltas was named as Book of the Month by Air Classics, while his book Tommy Gun was named Pick of the Month by Shooting Illustrated.

His book Guinness: The 250 Year Quest for the Perfect Pint was listed among the top business books of the year by Cond Nast Portfolio Magazine, which rated Yenne's tome as its TOP pick for "Cocktail Conversation."

Yenne's Rising Sons: The Japanese American GIs Who Fought for the United States in World War II, was praised by Walter Boyne, former Director of the National Air & Space Museum, who called it "a fast moving... page turner," and the "best book yet written on the saga."

The Wall Street Journal wrote, when reviewing his Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West, that Yenne writes with "cinematic vividness," and says of his work that it "has the rare quality of being both an excellent reference work and a pleasure to read."

The author lives in San Francisco, California, and on the web at www.BillYenne.com

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Reviews

[Ronald Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greatest Generation

Bill Yenne chronicles the lives of airmen who endured countless obstacles in their efforts to escape occupied territories after their aircraft were shot down by German aircraft or ground based antiaircraft weapons during World War Two. The author's meticulous research is on full display as he takes us through each of the selected hero's experiences. He gives us such things as the respective aircraft call numbers to the names of the resistance men, women, and children involved in the airmen's medical care and escape, to the kinds of vehicles they drove.
Reading this book gives the reader a greater appreciation for the term "The Greatest Generation". I highly recommend this book of you have any appreciation for history or the limits of human endurance.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel dumber than a box of rocks and must review this book on its nature and not on what I wanted to read..... The Ones Who Got Away - this well researched books follows airmen of the Eighth Army Air Corps who crashed or bailed out behind enemy lines and were helped by citizens, the resistance, and lines that were created to escort Allies to safety. Eventually I lost interest because there was no suspense - the were the "ones who got away". It is my fault that I did not select the book correctly............... The book I wanted to read was about a smaller number of USAAF crews who were downed in occupied Europe and how ALL the members of the crew who lived and either escaped or were captured by the Nazis. My uncle's plane was brought down over Berlin. He was the tail gunner and although his aircraft was not damaged by enemy fire, a plane above them fell out of the sky and chewed the tail off his plane. I guess I can rest easily because he would have been killed instantly, but I would have loved to hear about the others members of his crew who had to bail out over Germany. There is nothing wrong with this book except that I did not choose the right book. As a person who reads more than 600 books a year ( over 100 deal with WWII ) I now want to find the book I wished to read, so the author inspired me to find more reading. Now, as a retired college teacher, I finally have all the time I want to read!!! I found the detail of research to be comprehensive and the writing was "readable". Good job Mr. Yenne. Kristi & Abby Tabby p.s. One thing that the author did not mention, but which places the USAAF in greater danger is that the Americans bombed by day and attempted to do precision bombing. The British flew at night, also attempting to hit specific targets, but this was more difficult to accomplish and was safer that flying in plain ( no pun intended ) sight. Nearing the end of the war, in more desperation, American bombers did more saturation bombing in Europe. One can hardly blame the British after the Blitz in which the Nazis did not care about civilian casualties....