LARRY , S INTERVIEWS

CHAPTER 8 pilot had been thrown from the plane on impact. The body was mangled and the chest cavity torn open with the heart actually outside the body and still beating. The dead pilot was initially identified as the German’s leading air Ace. We salvaged the tail fin from the plane and I picked up a souvenir from the pilot, his pistol. It was a sight I will never forget. I carried the pistol until I returned to the States. At Jefferson Barracks, Missouri where I was mustered out the line we had to go through to declare war souvenirs. The line was so long and I was so ready to leave there that I threw the pistol into a well located near the parade field.”