Children of the local pastor: My brother and I had just walked out of the rectory next to the church. My father is the pastor. The noise above us – well, we knew a big battle was raging in the air. Deafening and scary.
We see a plane on fire heading left to right diagonally toward the ground. We were so little 4 or 5.
The current Mayor of a local town said: I went outside to see if I could see what was causing the noise. I saw a plane on fire heading toward the ground like this (with his hand shows a 45 degree trajectory). I called to my sister to came out to see.
Shortly afterwards, when playing in the fields not too far away, we found the window of the canopy of this airplane.
Couple who got married in June 1944: We weren’t married – I don’t want to tell…. After a little encouragement and no judgment: We were meeting in the barn. My husband was trying to avoid being conscripted by the Germans to go to a work camp. I was his lucky charm. When he was with me, the Germans went to his house and asked his parents where he was. They didn’t know. So he escaped conscription.
We heard the great noise and shooting. Then we saw a plane coming down straight at us – no time to run. It hit about 100 yards short.
Gen Yeager asked her many years later when she related this story: Now did you have the best view? Were you on the bottom?
c. GCYI