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.

Thursday, 21 May 2015

Recon Productions

We are very excited and lucky to have Jed Henry of Recon Productions on board for the "In the Footsteps of Bud Owens" project. Jed is an Emmy award winning photojournalist, videographer, and a director of photography. With a background in news and investigative journalism, his 17 year career has focused on finding compelling and fascinating stories to tell. His work can be seen on all of the major networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, History Channel, and the Sportsman Channel, just to name a few. He has worked on network news programs, documentaries, corporate videos, reality shows, and much more. He has a genuine interest and passion about WWII history which motivated him to team up with us for this project. Jed's latest WWII documentary "Honoring a Commitment: The Story of Pfc. Lawrence Gordon" will air live this afternoon at 4PM EST and can be seen here: http://www.heritage.org/events/2015/05/pfc-gordon
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