S:Sgt Francis 'Bud' Owens was a waist gunner on B-17F 42-29928 when it was shot down over the Norman countryside in 1943.
The aircraft was part of 533rd Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group(H), and was taking part in a raid on the Gnome-Rhone plant in le Mans on July 4th when it was attacked by Messerschmitt Bf-109s and finally crashed near the small village of la Coulonche.
Three of the crew of ten perished when the 'plane hit the ground, two of those who baled out were quickly captured. With local help, the remaining five attempted to make their way down to neutral Spain with a view to re-joining the fight against Nazism.
Four of them made it to Spain but 'Bud' Owens, a man who on many occasions had put others before himself, was to die of exposure in the Pyrenees, aged just 21. He now rests in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.
Please follow our project to honour and remember 'Bud' Owens and support it if you can. Thank you.

Monday 8 June 2015

Sam Soderberg

We are happy to have Sam Soderberg participate in our documentary project!


Sam is an Economics student at the University of Wisconsin. He has a natural love for the outdoors and all things recreational and spent much of his childhood in the woods or on the river near his home. From a very young age he knew he wanted to become a pilot, and he was willing to make whatever sacrifices necessary to attain that goal. In January of his senior year of high school, after weighing the best paths to become a pilot, he enlisted in the Wisconsin Air National Guard at the 128th Air Control Squadron in Camp Douglas, WI. During his freshman year at UW, Sam received news from his squadron that he would be deployed in the coming fall. Although this would be a large obstacle in his path to a degree, he willingly took on the mission. He left on November 11th, 2012 to Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates and spent the next six months there in a deployed environment serving as a satellite and radio communications airman. Sam will be acting as an assistant to our film maker Jed Henry during our upcoming journey. Please consider making a donation to help Sam be part of this great adventure!

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