Howard Snyder Jr. was a B-17 pilot bombing Nazi targets during WWII—when in February 1944 he and his ten-man crew were shot down over Nazi-held Belgium, close to the French border. His son Steve Snyder details how eight of the men, including his dad, survived the crash before scattering into the countryside.
 
Howard survived through the bravery and largess of local Belgians, who tried to help the stranded American soldiers. Howard ultimately worked for the Resistance in Belgium until he was able to make his way to the Allied forces and return to London, and eventually, home to the U.S. He made lifelong friends with the people who had helped him, and their families. All of this is chronicled in Steve's book "Shot Down," including his own meeting years later, with the German pilot who shot down his dad’s plane.



Heroes Behind Headlines
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